Small World
by TalithaTheHun
Summary: Sequel to Daughter of Two Drifters! You remember that Georgia and Virginia were both pregnant? Well, this is the continuation of where we left off on DTD! Need I say more? After four years, FINALLY CONTINUED.
1. Prologue: Early Engagement?

~Five months after Georgia and Virginia announced both of their pregnancies...~

  
  
  
  


"ANTHONY!! YOU DID THIS TO ME - YOU ARE DEAD!!!" a voice screamed from a bedroom in a house in Boot Hill. Many people glanced up at the house, then quickly scurried away. Inside the house, people covered their ears from the noise.

  
  


Little Razi Caradine looked up at his mother, Becky Caradine, who was covering her ears with her hands. "Mommy, make Auntie Georgia stop screaming!!" he cried, but his voice couldn't heard over the scream of a second voice. "AND AUNTIE VIRGINIA TOO!"

  
  


The screaming continued for quite a while, until suddenly, Georgia's voice was no longer heard screaming. Virginia's screaming continued for a few more minutes, and then subsided as well. Everyone pulled their hands away from their ears, and smiled in relief. Suddenly, two small cries were heard - obviously from the two newborns.

  
  


Upstairs, in one room, lay Georgia, holding a small bundle in her arms. She peered down at the small child, a smile upon her tired face. Anthony sat beside her, peering down at the child as well. David, who, since he was a doctor, had been the one to help with the delivery, and was smiling at Georgia and Anthony. "Congratulations, you two. It's a girl." he stated, causing Georgia to glance up at him momentarily, then to Anthony.

  
  


"Anthony, what should we name her?" she asked, glancing back down at the infant in her arms. She had surprisingly quite a bit of hair for a baby, and it was black, like her father's. Her eyes blinked opened for a moment, to stare up at her parents - her eyes were violet, like her Grandfather's. She opened her mouth in a smile, making small gurgle sounds.

  
  


Anthony looked down at her, and thought for a moment. He smiled when a name came to his mind, and he gently touched the newborn's face. "How about... Erica Leanne?" he mentioned, and Georgia looked up at him, a thoughtful look on her face.

  
  


"Erica Leanne Bernadette... Leanne is my middle name." she suddenly stated, raising an eyebrow at him. He grinned, and nodded his head. She smiled gently, and looked down at the newborn. "Erica Leanne Bernadette. It sounds wonderful, Anthony."

  
  


In the other room, Virginia lay in the bed, holding a newborn as well. Jet sat next to her, staring down at the baby. The doctor had just told them that it was a girl. Jet looked at Virginia's face, and saw her smiling, then she sighed. "What should we name her, Jet?" she asked, and Jet shook his head.

  
  


"I named Aleksey and Kenji. You name her." he said, and Virginia nodded her head, thinking of what name to give her.

  
  


"Vedette Kaya Enduro."

  
  
  
  


* + * = **

  
  


David and the female doctor that had delivered Vedette both walked down the stairs, and then into the living room. "They had the babies - both had girls." the female doctor, named Manami, said cheerfully, then added, "You may go up and see them, but be quiet, the babies may be asleep."

  
  


So, several of them went upstairs, to see the newborns. Kaitlyn took Kevin and went in to see Anthony, Georgia, and Erica first. They walked up to the bed, and Kaitlyn sat down on the side of it, and Kevin sat on his mother's lap, looking wide eyed down at Erica. "Mommy... who is that?" he asked, blinking.

  
  


"Well, she's your new friend - in about a year you and her will probably be able to play." Kaitlyn answered, lifting him higher so he could see Erica's face better - she was asleep. Kevin grinned, bouncing up and down on his Mom's lap.

  
  


"Mommy, can I marry that girl when I grow up?" Kevin asked, and Kaitlyn chuckled at his cute question.

  
  


"Well I don't know, Kevin, you'll just have to wait and see."

  
  


"I don't wanna wait!!"


	2. Practicing ARMs, Bratty Little Sister De...

PianZoe: CiaHottie and I taking turns writing. I wrote the prologue, and am writing this chapter, and the next chapter she will be writing. And so on and so forth.

  
  


CiaHottie: Yes. *twitches suddenly* The eternally cursed are, COLD FEET!! RANDOMONIA!!!

  
  


PianZoe: *blinks* I guess Randomonia decided to join us. *growling under breath*

  
  


CiaHottie: The pink yellow dinosaurs have hearts like flowers, and the sequel has no OWNING POWER!!

  
  


PianZoe: ...I guess that means we don't own the Wild ARMs 3 game... or any other Wild ARMs thing... Oh, and I had thought that Kaitlyn's eyes were blue. Well, I was looking at the picture of her, and her eyes are BROWN!! -_- Well, from now on her eyes are brown in this fan-fic. If either of us type 'blue eyes' for Kaitlyn's eyes, pretend it is 'brown eyes' instead, ok?

  
  


CiaHottie: The seasons passed and the frog eyeball had moss.

  
  


PianZoe: That means "I thought her eyes were blue too".

  
  


CiaHottie: Oh it DOES, does it, putrid elephant?

  
  


PianZoe: Yes, it does, Lordess of the dark ugly dancing. *thwaps CiaHottie in the back of the head*

  
  


CiaHottie: AH!! The leather balloon was stricken with silver white wash!!

  
  
  
  


~Eleven years later~

  
  
  
  


Georgia walked up the stairs to her daughter's room, frowning. Why wasn't Erica up yet? It was nearly 11:00 A.M.! She pushed the door open, to see black hair sticking out from under the blankets. Georgia sighed, walking towards the bed, her hands on her hips. 'I wish she hadn't gotten Anthony's sleeping-in habit.' she thought, nearly rolling her eyes. She bent over, to shake her eleven year old daughter awake. "Erica, wake up. It's 10:58 A.M. and Kevin is here to practice shooting ARMs with you." she said, causing the ebony haired girl to jolt upwards, her eyes wide.

  
  
  
  


"WHAT?! THAT LATE?! THIS EARLY?! WHAT!?" she exclaimed, looking up into Georgia's eyes. "MOM, DON'T LET HIM IN!!" she shrieked, causing her mom to roll her eyes, giggling at her silly daughter.

  
  


"Erica, I know you don't want him to see you in your nightgown! That would be very embarrassing, wouldn't it?" she teased, causing Erica's face to go a light pink. Georgia stood away from the bed, turned around, and began to head towards the door. "I'm going to go downstairs and keep Kevin company until you come down. Be sure to hurry up, ok?" she said as she walked, and Erica gave her back a panicked look.

  
  


"NO!!" she shouted, falling off the side of the bed, onto the floor. "Ow..." she muttered, rubbing her head. Georgia turned back, and giggled a bit at the way Erica was sprawled on the floor. She looked up at Georgia, a nervous look on her face. "Um, heh, heh, Mom! I... um... can... can you do... my hair?" she asked, smiling in hope. Hope that her Mom believed that was the reason she wanted her to stay there.

  
  


"But weren't you saying yesterday that you wanted to put that new hairdo you learned how to do in your hair today?" Georgia asked, almost smirking, but keeping herself from doing so. Erica's pink face darkened to a red. She was silent for several minutes, until she stood up, and walked to her dresser. Georgia smiled, and walked out, shutting the door behind her. Erica stuck her tongue out at the door, knowing exactly what her Mother was doing. She was trying to embarrass her! She was always trying to do that - or, it seemed like it, at least.

  
  


She quickly got dressed into an off white t-shirt, with a red vest over it, and a black mini skirt. She walked over to her boots, straightened her socks, and then pulled her boots on. And then she walked over to a dresser that came down about to her middle, with a mirror on top of it. Across the top, in front of the mirror, were hair brushes, hair clips, ribbons, and a small bottle of apple perfume she bought with her own gella. She looked into the mirror, and frowned at her morning appearance. She grabbed the brush, and began to brush the snarls out of her raven locks. "Ow... ow... ow... ouch..." she muttered, and winced, as she pulled her brush through a difficult rat nest. As soon as her hair was all brushed, she grabbed a ribbon, and then began to tie it around half of her hair, in a low left side pigtail. Then she did the same with the other side, and grinned at the mirror. She looked much better now. She grabbed the apple perfume, and sprayed a cloud of it into the air, then leaned forward into it, so it got on her.

  
  


Now she was ready, and she could make sure her mother did not embarrass her too much. She trotted down the stairs, and into the main room, where she could see Georgia speaking to Kevin about something. Kevin had messy reddish colored hair like David, and dark blue eyes. He wore his father's old black leather jacket with the red flames on it, underneath the jacket he wore a grey t-shirt, and he wore blue jean shorts. He was about two inches taller than Erica, and was thin. He was, according to Erica, dreamy. And he was chuckling under his breath at something Georgia had said. 

  
  


"Ok I'm ready let's go bye Mom see you later come on Kevin!!" Erica said in a rush, pulling Kevin towards the door. Georgia cleared her throat, and tapped her daughter on the shoulder. She looked up at her Mother, a confused look on her petite face. "What is it, Mom?"

  
  


"Don't you need your ARMs to practice shooting?" Georgia asked, causing the ebony haired young girl to blush, let go of Kevin's hand, and run into the other room, where her Jongleur 40 (PianZoe: I am just making up names for ARMs, ok?) and her Passo Acima V10 were lying (CiaHottie: The Jongleur 40 and the Passo Acima V10 are pistol-like ARMs). She grabbed the two ARMs, then rushed back out, and glared at her Mother. She was once again talking to Kevin.

  
  


"Ok, Kevin, let's go." she said simply, grabbing Kevin's hand and walking out the door. He raised an eyebrow at her, then chuckled at her attitude. She glared up at him, then she looked forward and felt her face redden. She hadn't begun to feel these feelings for Kevin until her eleventh birthday. She guessed the reason was she was maturing, but she didn't really like that fact. She let go of his hand to make the butterflies go away, and closed her eyes, walking in the direction she thought was their practice area.

  
  


"Um, Erica..."

  
  


"..."

  
  


"Erica."

  
  


"..."

  
  


"Erica!"

  
  


"What?"

  
  


"You are about to walk into my sister!"

  
  


She opened her eyes, and stopped herself just in time, so she wouldn't bump into the girl who was only a year younger than herself. "Oops, sorry Denae, I wasn't watching where I was going." she said, giggling slightly at the weird look the young girl, Denae, was giving her. Denae had shoulder length green hair that was tied in two low braids, her eyes were a light brown like Kaitlyn's (PianZoe: YAY, I remembered they were brown!), she wore a baggy aquamarine t-shirt, and tight white leggings.

  
  


"... Erica, sometimes I wonder what's wrong with you. And I also wonder what my br-" Denae was cut off as Kevin jumped forward and clapped a hand over her mouth, glaring at her. She wriggled out of his grip, and stuck her tongue out at him. "Well, I'm going to go and read an antique novel that Grandfather gave me for my tenth birthday. Adieu." she then turned on her heel, and stalked off towards the Lorelei residence. Erica looked to Kevin with an eyebrow raised, while he just shook his head at his sister.

  
  


"Heh, she may wonder what's wrong with ME, but I wonder what's wrong with her." Erica said, giggling as she watched Denae get closer to her house. She hunched her shoulders, balled her fists, and kicked the ground with her left foot angrily. "Kevin, I think your sister has a big problem."

  
  


"Nah, it's just that she wishes that she would be invited to practice shooting ARMs with us." Kevin said, walking towards the practice area, readying his Colère DR2 (CiaHottie: I made up the name for his ARM, and it's a machine gun type), placing a bottle on a fence post, taking several steps back, and aiming directly at it. Erica frowned at him, placed her hands on her hips, and walked up beside him. He fired, missing the bottle by an inch, and glanced at Erica, who was giving him a mix between a questioning stare and a death glare. It wasn't a good look, he knew that. He had received that look many times before. "What?"

  
  
  
  


"Then, if you want your sister to be not so much of a brat, why not let her join us? Hmm? Plus, if something ever happened here at this town, then we could all defend our town!" she said, her eyebrows furrowing. Kevin raised an eyebrow at her, and looked back at the bottle he had missed. He aimed once again, and pulled the trigger, hitting the bottle dead-on, causing it to shatter to pieces.

  
  


"Erica, you know that my parents were Drifters until Denae was born, and your parents were Drifters until you were born - they could protect the town better than we could. Plus, my sister has never shot an ARM in her life, and she doesn't even own one." he stated simply, then glanced over to her, smirking. "Plus, I can't let her practice with us, because she is my little sister."

  
  


Erica giggled, and whopped him on the back of the head with her hand. "Scatterbrained comrade, is what I shall now call you. Just because she is your younger sister doesn't mean you can't let her do things with us! I bet she feels left out, ever since my cousins left, since they were all best friends. She has no one else to hang out with, Kevin..." she gave him a pouting look, and placed her chin on his shoulder. He was looking away from her, so she couldn't see the light blush that played across his face. 

  
  


"Yeah, I know she has no one else to hang out with, but... she has no ARM to use!" he stated, and Erica sighed, pulling away from his shoulder. What could she say? He was right. She placed her right index finger over her lips in thought, furrowing her eyebrows. 'Perhaps I could let her use one of my ARMs? But, I only use two, so then I couldn't use them...' she thought, looking at two ARMs she had placed on the barrel beside her. She was about to voice her suggestion, when a voice interrupted her.

  
  


"I do too have an ARM, ignoramus!" Denae shouted, storming up towards them, a smaller version of the Gungnir HAG35 in her hands - the ARM was at least a foot taller than it's owner. Kevin and Erica looked at the ARM with surprised looks. "You know Grandpa gave me this Stagionei Inverno YF6 ARM for my birthday, along with that old book." she said plainly, rolling her eyes at her brother's stupidity. Kevin raised an eyebrow, and then snickered at his sister's mistake.

  
  


"Don't you mean, 'You know very well that Grandfather gave this Stagionei Inverno YF6 ARM to me for my birthday, along with the antique novel'?" he asked, causing the young green haired girl's cheeks to burn a dark rose color. Erica covered her mouth with her right hand, and giggled at the annoyed yet embarrassed look on Denae's face. She soon got over her giggle fit, and grabbed her ARMs, smiling at Denae.

  
  


"Ok then, Denae, since you do have an ARM, do you want to practice with us?" she asked, and Denae just rushed up towards them, a large grin now plastered across her face, her eyes bright.

  
  


"You seriously have to ask?" she looked at a bottle that Kevin had placed on the fence, and then raised her Stagionei Inverno YF6 ARM, aiming at the bottle. She then pulled the trigger, hitting the bottle dead on, causing it to shatter into bits, first try. She smirked, and then looked at Kevin, who was staring at her with shock very evident on his face. "I don't know how to operate an ARM, huh?" 

  
  


"Uh... well, uh... yeah, well, you still can't... handle... um... shooting a farther target! Erica and I do that perfectly! Isn't that right, Erica?" Kevin stuttered, turning to Erica for support. She just raised an eyebrow at him, and shook her head. He frowned, bit his lip, and looked back at Denae, who still had that triumphant smirk sitting on her face. His frown deepened, and he crossed his arms. "So what if you can shoot that stupid rifle? Big stinking deal!"

  
  


"You just don't want to say that I did a good job on something, I know." Denae said smugly, giggling at the flustered yet angered look on her older brother's face.

  
  
  
  


* + * = **

  
  


After a while, all of them were still practicing, teasing each other whenever they messed up. Erica had just shot the bottle she was using to practice on, causing it to shatter, so she walked up to the fence, placed another bottle on it, and then backed up. As she was backing up, she bumped into something. She brought her hand back, to feel jean material. She smiled, and turned around, looking up to see her Father standing there, watching them practice.

  
  


"Daddy!" she exclaimed, and Anthony looked down at her, smiling a bit. He bent down, and she jumped onto him, throwing her arms around him. "You're back from Quartly! Did you have fun? Did you miss me? I should have come, shouldn't I? I knew it! Why wouldn't you let me come? Huh, huh, huh? It's not like I'm helpless or anything, Dad! Mom will be sooo happy that you're home! We missed you so much!" Erica rambled, hugging her Father as tight as possible. He coughed a bit from loss of air, and then hugged her back.

  
  


"I didn't exactly have fun. I missed you and your Mother terribly, yes you two should have come. I wouldn't let you come because I was afraid that if we got attacked that you wouldn't be able to defend yourself - I didn't know at the time that your Mother was teaching your how to handle ARMs!" he answered her questions, kissed her on the cheek, and ruffled her hair. She laughed a bit, and finally pulled away from him. "Speaking of your Mother, is she inside?" Anthony asked, and Erica nodded her head, picking up her ARMs - when she had embraced him, she had accidently dropped them. She turned to the bottle she had placed on the fence, and grinned.

  
  


"Did you see me shoot the other bottle, Dad?" she asked, and looked up, to see Anthony nodding his head. "How did I do?" she asked, furrowing her eyebrows, and looking back towards the new bottle on the fence.

  
  


"I think you did quite well, Erica."

  
  


"Good! I thought I might have messed up or something." she grinned, aimed at the bottle, and fired, hitting the top of it, causing that part to shatter, and the rest of it to fall to the ground below, shattering anyway. She blinked, and giggled a bit, shaking her head. "I meant to hit the middle of the bottle, but that works too..." she looked back up at Anthony, and her grin faded, being replaced by a look of worry - he was scowling for some odd reason, staring off towards the west. "Daddy? What's wrong? Why do you look so... angry?"

  
  


Anthony blinked, and looked down at her, shaking his head. "Nothing, Erica. I was just... thinking. I have to go inside now - keep practicing, soon you'll be as good as your Mother and Grandmother." he stated, and walked towards the Bernadette residence. As soon as he got up to the door, he grabbed the doorknob, and turned it, walking inside. He closed the door, and as he did so, he heard Georgia shout something about being back inside so early. "I'm back!" he shouted, and every noise that Georgia was making went silent.

  
  


Well, that is, until she came dashing into the room, shouting, "Anthony, you're home!!" and practically jumping onto him, causing him to stumble backwards a bit. He smiled at her reaction, and as he was about to say something, he was silenced by a kiss from Georgia. She then pulled away from him, crossed her arms, frowned, and turned away from him. "And why didn't you send me and Erica a letter saying that you were going to be later than planned? I was worried sick about you. In fact, I may not speak to you again for at least a week." she huffed, and Anthony chuckled at her, causing her to whirl around and give him a glare. "And just what, may I ask, is so funny? HMM??" she questioned, and he grabbed her face with both of his hands. She blinked at that, then frowned once more. "Whuff arf youf dofing?"

  
  


"I am sorry I didn't send you a letter. I got busy - I learned several things that I wanted to, also. I learned that my Mother and Kylie Cascade were best friends, and my Mother left me with Kylie until she came back from a trip. I also heard that she was originally a Drifter, and her name was Ifeoma Bernadette. My Father was killed soon after I was born. Also, I had meant to return earlier, so I didn't send you a letter, because I was going to surprise you - but, guess who I saw there? Aleksey and Meira's family. They told me that someone they met in Quartly had been having strange dreams with two girls. At first he had dreams with a girl that looked identical to Giovanna. Then, he began having dreams with a different looking girl - they didn't tell me what she looked like. Anyway, they said that the man who had been having the dreams had met the two girls once when he was awake, and they threatened him. Well, they told him about Giovanna, and he wants them to get rid of the girls. And... they want us to help them." Anthony explained, and Georgia pulled away, her mouth agape.

  
  


"But... but we KILLED Giovanna!!" she exclaimed, as her eyes widened, and she placed her right hand to the right side of her face, shaking her head. "Anthony, it can't be Giovanna - can it? We killed her! Or, at least, defeated her!" she shook her head more furiously, and Anthony sighed, and nodded his head.

  
  


"Yeah, that's what we thought. But, remember that loud explosion? I think she escaped, to heal herself up enough to come back." he said, and Georgia froze, her eyes stuck on his face. She blinked a couple times as Anthony sighed, and began walking up the stairs. She glanced up that way, and began to follow him.

  
  


"So... does that mean, that we have to...?"

  
  


"Yes. In order to help Aleksey and Meira stop Giovanna and that other dream-demon from going on with their plot, we have to become Drifters again."

  
  


"But... Anthony! What about Erica?"

  
  


"She can come with us."

  
  


"Anthony Bernadette, I am NOT going to allow you to bring our daughter along with us and endangering her life!!"

  
  


"Fine. Then she can stay with your parents."

  
  


"... My parents? Heh, heh, Anthony. They have enough trouble dealing with Vedette. And we would be gone at the most a month."

  
  


"Then who do you suggest we leave her with, hmm?"

  
  


"..."

  
  


"Exactly. Plus - have you seen her practicing with her ARMs? She's very skilled."

  
  


"Yes, I know she's skilled, but she's ONLY eleven, Anthony!"

  
  


"Georgia." Anthony stopped at their bedroom door, growled, and spun around to face her, a scowl on his face. Georgia stopped, and frowned back at him. "I am just as worried as you. Ok? I don't want to bring her because of the danger. But what other choice do we have? She would be a burden to your parents, Clive and Catherine are too old and live too far away, and we don't even know if Becky and Gallows still live in Baskar. Kaitlyn and David will be going with us, I already checked, Kenji and Oriole are going to be there as well, and we don't know where all of our other options live any more. So answer me - should we bring her along, knowing she'll be pretty muchly safe when she is with several adults who care about her, or leave her with someone you barely know?"

  
  


Georgia sighed, and crossed her arms, her head drooping down, hiding her face. "Ok then. I will go tell her to pack up her stuff." just as she turned and was about to walk down the stairs, they heard the door slam shut and Erica's voice call out.

  
  


"Mom? Dad? Where are you? Kevin and Denae had to go back home - something about going with their parents on some trip and having to pack or... something." she shouted, and Georgia then walked down the stairs, her eyebrows furrowing. Kevin and Denae were going as well? It made sense - David and Kaitlyn were in basically the same situation as she and Anthony. She stepped off the last step, and walked up to Erica, then motioned up the stairs.

  
  


"Erica, get to packing. Don't ask why now. You may ask when we are on the train to Quartly. But for now, shoo! Upstairs, get ready! Quick, quick!"

  
  


* + * = **

  
  


Anthony, Georgia, Erica, Kaitlyn, David, Kevin, and Denae all were entering the train to Quartly, holding their luggage close to themselves. Erica, Kevin, and Denae all looked around in slight wonder - they had never been on a train in their life. As they were about to enter the train, they heard an annoyingly familiar voice shout out through the small crowd. "Hey!! Heeeeey!! Georgia, Anthony, Kaitlyn, David! Kevin, Denae, Erica!! Over here!!!" they all turned to their right, to see a tall figure of a boy bounding their way. Kevin glared at who was coming their way, and Erica sighed, covering half of her face with her right hand in annoyance.

  
  


Once the tall boy got out of the crowd, and to the group of seven, they could see that it was exactly who they thought it was. Razi Caradine. He stood at 5'11", was slightly muscular, except quite thin, and was grinning from ear to ear. His now moderately long red hair was tied in a low ponytail. He wore a deep sea green vest over nothing bare skin, sea green jeans with black leather chaps over them, a belt of ammunition around his waist, black gloves of which he had cut the fingers off of (he didn't like normal gloves), and half of a light sea green tribal skirt hanging from his ammunition belt (like Gallows did).

  
  
  
  


Georgia nodded her head at Razi, greeted him, and then walked onto the train. The others did the same - except for Kevin, who just glared - and Razi followed them into the train, telling them how he had heard from Kenji and Oriole that they were going to go to Quartly and stop Giovanna and the other dream-demon, and how he decided he would run away from his parents (leaving them a note, of course) and help them.


	3. An Argument, Vedette, and An Announcemen...

CiaHottie: Randomonia left me the other day, but unforunately, Cinnaminna, PianZoe's minion, has taken over her.  
  
PianZoe: *grins and strikes a pose* That is correcteth, Fate of the Black Leather Balloon, and Random Speaker of Indigo Hats has chopsticks to write diaries!  
  
CiaHottie: It should go away by next chapter... *stares at PianZoe/Cinnaminna, then looks back at readers* Anyway, I am writing this chapter.  
  
PianZoe: SHEETH SPEAKETH THEETH TRUTHETH!!  
  
CiaHottie: It's amazing the things people can say when they are taken over by random insane minions... Anyway, PianZoe told me to say this before Cinnaminna took over her.  
  
PianZoe: But the CHEEEEEEESE said it hated MOLLASSES!!  
  
CiaHottire: I know that, you said it before. Anyway, she said to say that the next chapter we will both be writing, and neither will be in the beginning part because... and that's where she got taken over, so, all I ever got out of her after that were random things that made no sense at all.  
  
PianZoe: And that's why you should never get a chunk of skin taken off your arm by a heater.  
  
CiaHottie: That's not quite as bad as some things she says... Anyway, the disclaimer...  
  
PianZoe: Let MEEEEE say IIIIITTTTTT, FotBLB!! Abandonment: CiaHottie or I do not own the arm of wildness, arm 2 of wildness, or arm 3 of wildness. Or we did not constitute here with anything which we express densely. So, the Georgian way we do not have to be appealed, un SONY, Kaitlyn, and David appeal the compartment. *Window* to point!! In me 1 trillion GELLA!!! Pay!  
  
CiaHottie: *sweatdrop* I am going to try and pretend that made sense... I think she said... "Disclaimer: Neither CiaHottie nor I own Wild ARMs, Wild ARMs 2, or Wild ARMs 3. Or anything that we mention in here that we didn't make up. So, please don't sue us like Georgia, Anthony, Kaitlyn, and David are suing their compartment. *points to window* YOU!! PAY ME ONE TRILLION GELLA!!!!"  
  
PianZoe: Challenge me!! How it copies?!! You pay from heart! NONILLION GELLA!!!! Now!!!!!!  
  
*~*^*~*^*~*^*~*^*~*  
  
"Erica, why don't you, Kevin, Denae, and Razi share a compartment? They aren't big enough for all of us to fit into one." Georgia addressed her daughter, but was aiming the comment towards all of the teenagers. Erica nodded, and shoed her friends into a compartment beside the one that the adults were using, and then sat down beside Kevin, who was still glaring menacingly at Razi.  
  
Erica looked strangely at Kevin, raising an eyebrow, but decided not to ask what was the matter. Razi sat strait across from her and Kevin, beside Denae, who didn't look to happy about the seating arrangements. Razi winked at Erica, when he thoughht Kevin wasn't looking, but soon found that Kevin had been watching out of the corner of his eye when he suddenly glared even deadlier towards Razi.  
  
"What did you just do?" Kevin asked Razi, taking on the look of a lawyer that was prosecuting him. Razi rolled his eyes, "Nothing." he answered, and Kevin narrowed his eyes. "Yes you did. You winked at her." He motioned to Erica, "Why?"  
  
Razi raised his hands defensively, "I didn't mean nothing, Kev! It was just a wink!"  
  
Kevin let out a sigh of annoyance, "Then why did you say you didn't do anything when I asked!?! HM??" he questioned, and Erica could sense a hint of jealousy in his tone, though she wondered why.  
  
Razi looked puzzled for a moment, then gave his defense, "I..I...Didn't know what you meant!" He made sure to stress the last word to make it sound as though he was innocent.  
  
Kevin smirked, "Then when you said 'It didn't mean nothing,' you didn't realize that what had said was that you did mean something? If it didn't mean nothing, then that means it did mean something. Now what did you mean?" Erica grinned at Kevin's cleverness, then looked to Razi to see if he could match that.  
  
Razi opened his mouth to speak, then closed it, then answered, "Umm.. It meant..Uhh.." he blushed, "I think she needed..some attention! Yes, that's it!" Kevin gazed fixedly at Razi, trying not to laugh at his failed attmept to cover up his mistake. Kevin decided he would leave the argument at this, and know that he had won by a long shot. "Fine then Razi, just don't do it again.." He glared one last time, then turned to look out the window.  
  
Erica leaned her head back, gazing at the ceiling. What to do..what to do..  
  
*~*^*~*^*~*^*~*^*~*  
  
Several hours later the scene looked pretty much the same, except that Kevin had turned to his ARM, and was rubbing it over with a small rag. Once he had finished, he set it down, and began to read a book called 'This Present Darkness.' Razi gazed down at the ARM, then picked it up, turning it over a couple of tiumes. Kevin saw this, and burst out yelling, "What are you doing with my ARM?? Did I say you could touch it?? NO!" Erica was awoken from light sleep by this, and wondered why Kevin was so outraged at Razi just for picking up his ARM.  
  
"Hey, hey, I was just looking at it..."He put the ARM down, and crossed his arms. "Happy now, Mr. Touchy?" Kevin growled, "No. Also, never touch my ARM again."  
  
"Hey now, don't get nasty!" Razi cocked his head to one side, hoping not to get another outburst from Kevin. "Who says I was getting nasty??? WHO? YOU! Now SHOVE IT!" He crossed his arms, glaring daggers at his rival (PianZoe: Hmm... Kevin seems a lot like Jet... CiaHottie: So? I like him like that! And why are you acting normal again? PianZoe: "Me troublesome?? The someone means that it has become? WHO?! Now push that!" CiaHottie: Nm...). "I never said no such-" But the compartment door bursting open cut him off, and a short, hooded and cloaked figure stepped into the small space, cut him off.  
  
As the figure removed their hood, Erica gasped, "What are you doing here!?"  
  
A short girl, about the same age as Erica, stood in front of them. She had violet eyes, dark auburn hair up in pigtails, held with azure bows, and freckles (CiaHottie: Where did Vedette get her red hair and freckles, you ask? PZ and I were thinking about the younger Virginia's hair - it looked kinda reddish. And, well, she just got the freckles from... nowhere). "Vedette! I asked you a question!" Vedette grinned, plopping down on the seat beside her niece. "I decided I wanted to come along, of course!" She answered cheerfully, acting as though she had done nothing wrong in coming. She removed her cloak, which revealed a black tank top, covered by a jacket much like her father's (Jet), except with a pink heart sewn onto the pocket, and a long, azure, jean skirt. Erica stared at her as though she was her mother, her expression saying that she knew Vedette's parent's did not know that their daughter was here.  
  
"Do your parent's know you are here?" she asked, in a tone like that of a mother who had caught her child being naughty. Vedette grinned, "Oh, I left them a note.." Erica furrowed her eyebrows, glaring at her careless aunt. Yes, this girl was her aunt. They both shared the same birthday, but this was her mother's sister.  
  
Kevin stared at Vedette, a surprised look on his face. Razi grinned goofily, making googily eyes at her. Erica sighed, leaning back in her seat. "Fine, but don't be surprised if, when you get back, if you get back, they ground you for the rest of your entire life.."  
  
~*^*~*^*~*^*~*^*~  
  
Virginia walked into the house after tending her garden, getting ready to preapre dinner for her daughter and husband. She walked over to the dinner table, a rag in her hand, planning on washing it over before supper, but stopped when she saw a small note scribbled in her daughter's handwriting. It read:  
  
Dear Mom and Dad,  
I've left to go with Erica, Kevin and Danae, and their families to go to Quartly. They are going on a mission, and I wish to accompany them! I'll see you guys soon, don't worry about me. With love from your daughter, Vedette E.  
  
Virginia gasped, sitting down, a terrified look on her face. "Jet!!! JET! GET IN HERE NOW!" Jet rushed in through the door, and screeched to a stop beside the table, a concerned look now plastered on his handsome face, at seeing his wife in such a state. "What is it, Ginny?" he asked, sitting down beside her. She handed him the note, and he read it..  
  
"Hmm..Not suprising.." he muttered, and Virginia glared at him. "You aren't worried at all about her?!?" she demanded, crossing her arms, a look of frustration on her face. Jet rumpled his hair, "I didn't say I wasn't worried. I'm just not surprised! I would have done the same." Virginia glared, astonished that her husband could be so calm about this.  
  
"Ginny, come on, don't give yourself gray hairs! You want to have hair like mine?" he motioned to his silver hair, and Ginny slightly smiled. Jet did the same, "Now calm down, Ginny. Georgia and Anthony will be with her. Don't worry." He reassured, and Virginia nodded, wiping her face off with her hands.  
  
~*^*~*^*~*^*~*^*~  
  
Georgia and Kaitlyn sat side by side in the compartment across from the teens, conversing while their husbands were off doing something.  
  
"So, Georgia... have you told Anthony yet?"  
  
"What?"  
  
"Have you told him about... you know... yet?"  
  
"Oh... no, I haven't yet. I figured he would figure it out on his own, but..."  
  
"But he's dense."  
  
"Heh... yeah. I hate to say it but he is."  
  
"So when are you going to tell him?"  
  
"Probably when he gets back in here."  
  
"That soon?"  
  
"Well, yeah, this is pretty important."  
  
"Well duh, of course it is... I mean, it isn't every day you're pregnant. And, how far along are you, again?"  
  
"About... five months."  
  
"And he can't tell?"  
  
"Nope."  
  
"Jeez... So, how does Erica feel about being a big sister?"  
  
"I haven't told her either, though I'm pretty sure she has the supsicion I am.." Kaitlyn nodded, and leaned back, "Well, I'm sure it will all work out fine. You want to try and get some sleep?" Outside it was getting pretty dark. They had been on the train for several hours now. Georgia nodded, and lay her head back also, closing her eyes. Just as she was about to nod off, she heard the compartment door open, and someone whisper something to another. "Shh.. It looks like they are sleeping.." Georgia slightly smiled as she recognized her husbands voice. She heard them tiptoe over to the seats and quietly sit down.  
  
"Well, hello." Georgia piped up, startling the two men. Anthony stared at her for a moment, and then smiled, "Oh, so you weren't asleep! We thought you were." Georgia grinned, then suddenly frowned. Anthony furrowed his eyebrows, "What's wrong, Georgia?" he asked, as David and Kaitlyn began a conversation on the other side of the compartment. "Anthony, I've got something to tell you. I'm.." She glanced over at Kaitlyn who was looking at her, and Kaitlyn nodded, egging her on. Anthony looked at her as though saying 'Yes?'  
  
"I'm pregnant!" She suddenly grinned again, and Anthny stared at her, eyes wide.  
  
He blinked a couple of times, and then a huge grin spread across his face, "That's wonderful!!" he exclaimed, jumping up and hugging his wife, who beamed back at him. Kaitlyn and David both grinned also, "Congratulations Georgia, Anthony." Said David quietly, and Kaitlyn nodded her agreement. "Thanks you guys." Said Georgia, lightly kissing Anthony on the lips.  
  
~*^*~*^*~*^*~*^*~*^*~  
  
"WHAT?!?!?!" Erica screamed, jumping to her feet just after her mother told her that she was pregnant. Georgia smiled. She could tell her daughter wasn't too happy about this. "You will be happy to know that you will be meeting your new brother or sister in around 4 months, Erica!" Georgia exclaimed, clasping her hands together, as Erica's shocked look only deepened.  
  
~ Mommy's pregnant.Why am I so astonished? I noticed she was eating more, and getting.bigger.~ Erica wondered to herself, staring at her mother. She slightly smiled, just to show her mother that she wasn't mad about her being pregnant..just. well, she didn't know how she felt. But she wasn't angry. Kind of..jealous, actually.  
  
She flushed these thoughts from her mind, though, when her mother saw Vedette. "Vedette!! What are you DOING here!!" She exclaimed in a very mother-like way, and Vedette shrunk back a little. "I wanted to come along, too. Don't worry; I left mom and dad a note. " Georgia was fuming, her eyes wide. "You left home, without even asking?!? Oh boy, are YOU gonna be grounded!" Vedette smiled slightly, but then went back to shrinking.  
  
Georgia groaned, "I guess we'll have to take you now, though. We are too far from home to just send you back. Well, hope you're prepared. I have to go back to our compartment. See ya'll later. " She turned and left, quietly shutting the door behind her. Vedette smiled slyly, "Knew it would work." Erica smiled at her, and then leaned her head back, eyes closed. "We should probably get some sleep, guys." With that, she soon fell to sleep.  
  
~*^*~*^*~*^*~*^*~  
  
"Wake up, sleeping beauty!!" Erica's eyes fluttered open as she heard her aunt's voice. She groaned, closing her eyes again as extremely bright sunlight burned her eyes. Vedette giggled, beginning to mess around with Erica's hair, "Come on! We already let you sleep in this late! It's past lunchtime, silly! Get up! UP!" Erica growled under her breath, sitting up, and rubbing her eyes. Once her vision was clear again, she could see Razi fiddling with a piece of paper, folding it different ways, Kevin reading again, Danae eating a small sandwich, and Vedette staring at her with her big eyes.  
  
Vedette handed her several small sandwiches, and motioned for her to eat them. She did so, finding that they contained tuna and cheese. "Mmm." she muttered, quickly digging in, gobbling up the sandwich in a flash. After she finished she smiled, rubbing her stomach in satisfaction. "Yum! Those were good!" Vedette smiled at her, and then began to look out the window at the passing scenery, and Erica did the same.  
  
As she watched out the window, she wondered why there were so many deserts. Surely there must have been greenery once? The only place that had lots of growth in it was a place called Yggdrasil that she had heard her parents talking about. She sighed, turning to watching Kevin and Razi, hoping they wouldn't have any fights that day.  
  
She couldn't believe she had slept in this late! Why hadn't anyone woken her? What if something exciting had happened? Well, she thought, atleast I'm fully rested! She turned to her pack, opening it and rummaging around in it, trying to find something to keep her entertained. She pulled out her ARM, Passo Acima V10, then a jar of polish and a rag, and began polishing her ARM, humming as she did so.  
  
After she had finished this one, she pulled out her other ARM, Jongleur 40, and polished it also. When she was done, she yawned, putting the polish, rag, and ARMs back into her pack, and rummaging in it again. She pulled out a piece of paper and a pen, and started to draw, sketching Vedette, sitting there staring out the window. She was suprisingly good at this, and loved to do it. Finally she had found something to do!  
  
~*^*~*^*~*^*~*^*~ 


	4. What! Giovanna's ALIVE?

PianZoe: CiaHottie got the message wrong last chapter. What I had said, was the chapter after the next chapter, there will be no talking!  
  
CiaHottie: Then, if you would have had me say it last chapter, then wouldn't that mean that it was the next chapter?  
  
PianZoe: No, because last chapter, I said 'Tell them that the chapter after the next chapter after the next chapter we won't be talking at the beginning,' but Cinnaminna had already taken over half of me so I only said half of it. I only said 'Tell that chapter the chapter the chapter won't talking the beginning.'  
  
CiaHottie: Whatever.  
  
Cinnaminna and Randomonia: As for us freedom!!! So it is!  
  
PianZoe and CiaHottie: AHH!! NOOO!!!  
  
Cinnaminna and Randomonia: *dance to Should I Stay or Should I Go*  
  
PianZoe and CiaHottie: *sweatdrop*  
  
Cinnaminna: *points to PZ and CH, still dancing* Those do not have the possession power on the game of the arm of wildness!  
  
Randomonia: *does same* As for those, Fate and Yellow-pink wall master!  
  
PianZoe: Oh, and sorry the chapter's kinda late. I got a horrible writer's block on it...  
  
*~*^*~*^*~*^*~*^*~*  
  
Erica paused in her drawing for a moment, having gotten through with her picture of Vedette, a picture of Denae, and a picture of Kevin. She glanced up towards Razi, and sighed. He was the only one left to draw, she might as well draw him. Although it would be kind of hard, seeing as he kept folding the piece of paper into odd shapes, that she could never remember. Scrunching her face up, she set to work on the drawing, her tongue sticking out the right side of her mouth. But, as she began to draw him, everything went black. Three high pitched screams rang out - Vedette, Denae, and Razi. The sounds of several objects falling to the ground sounded - Razi's piece of paper, Kevin's book, and Erica's writing materials. Erica immediately looked out the window, her breath quickening. She then felt a head beside her own, and her breath quickened more. 'Oh stop that, it's probably Denae, or Razi, or Vedette, or Kevin.' she thought to herself, frowning.  
  
"It's just a tunnel." Kevin's voice sounded from beside her, confirming that it was indeed Kevin's head beside her's. She pulled herself away from the window, and then got down on the floor to search for her drawing materials. A pen... her note book... and a piece of paper. She picked up the piece of paper, and then frowned in confusion.  
  
"This is not my paper." she said, tossing the paper in the direction that Razi had been. She heard the paper hit something, and also heard Razi's muffled shriek, causing her to giggle a bit. Then, the lights came on. Evidently, someone had forgotten to turn them on before they went into the tunnel. Erica glanced around, to see Denae covering her eyes, Razi sitting in a ball, shaking, Kevin looking out the window, and Vedette flitting around nervously. "Oh good... the lights are on." Erica stated the obvious, and as she did, they came out of the tunnel, causing her to roll her eyes. "Perfect timing." she said sarcastically, starting on her drawing once more.  
  
!@ + !% = @&  
  
Several hours later, Georgia knocked on the door of the kids' compartment. Razi opened the door, and Georgia smiled at him. "Hello, I was just coming to make sure you five were getting ready - because, as you probably heard, the train's coming up to Urartu Station." she said, glancing around Razi, to see the other four already gathering their stuff.  
  
"Yeah, we figured that we should probably get ready. Well... at least, Erica and Kevin figured we better." Razi laughed, then grabbed the door, about ready to close it. "We'll be done in a sec, 'k, ma'am?" he asked, as he began to slowly close the door, and Georgia nodded her head, backing away from it. As soon as the door was closed, he began to 'help' the others get ready. "You guys gather our stuff, I'll... find stuff to gather."  
  
"But we already know where all the stuff is, you don't have to find it." Kevin growled, narrowing his eyes at the lazy teen Caradine (Cinnaminna: THATETH RHYMEETH!! PianZoe: *ties Cinnaminna up, and gags her* Sorry about that. There shall be no more inconveniences from this kitty- minion/inconvenience!). Erica nodded her head, pitching Razi's bag at his head, hitting him straight on and causing him to fall backwards into the door.  
  
"Uh... thanks... I think." Razi's muffled voice came from underneath his bag. Erica giggled and grinned, as she slipped her boots back on. Razi sat up away from the door, catching his bag in his lap, and rubbed his head with his right hand. "Ow..."  
  
Since they were all ready, they walked out of the compartment, to wait for the adults. To their surprise, they found that the adults, and many other passengers, were already out in the hall. The two groups joined up, to wait until the train stopped. They only had to wait for a little while, because soon after they joined up the train slowed to a halt.  
  
When they exited the train, they couldn't help but stare around at the station - well, all except Anthony, who had been here several times before. It was larger than any they had seen before! Two sets of stairs, instead of the usual one. After getting used to the larger size, they walked up the stairs, and out the two doors, to find themselves standing on red dirt, on a ledge that if it weren't for the small trail of land leading to it, it would be an island. They began walking across the trail of land connecting the Urartu Station's little 'island' to the white salt desert.  
  
As soon as the group were across the trail, a short figure clad in a cloak with a hood shadowing their face exited the train station - the only thing seen beneath the hood were a pair of intense amber eyes, that were pinned on the group of eight.  
  
!@ + !% = @&  
  
It had been four hours, and although they only had one more hour to go to get to Quartly, the kids insisted upon resting for the night (for it was now 10:00 PM). The adults eventually gave in, resting near one of the stalagmites.  
  
~`Mystery cloaked person POV`~  
  
I watched as the group of humans - well, and one half human - settled themselves down next to one of the white stalagmites, and I had to ask myself why they rested when they were only one hour away from their destination? Eh, I don't understand the minds of humans... although, according to Mom, I should because I am in fact, half human. Never mind. I slunk slowly in the direction of the eight human's campsite, and stopped next to the stalagmite, my eyes narrowing at the five children who were sleeping peacefully - well, actually, one of them was older than me, so I couldn't exactly call him a child, but he's only two years older than me. I walked forward a bit, until I was just barely out of reach of the glow of the lantern they had lit.  
  
I watched them, as the woman with silver hair leaned her head against the man with black hair's shoulder. Ew. Enough with the lovie-dovie-ness already! I thought I came here to kill them while they were asleep, not watch them all gross together... concentrate! Good, the silver haired woman is falling asleep... and the blonde woman is already asleep, good. The men are yawning... good, good, good... nearly asleep! Come on, do I have to make them fall asleep? Oh, goody! I think the men are asleep!  
  
I walked towards the adults, holding my hands together, making a small ball of black energy form between them. As I walked towards the black haired and silver haired couple, the black haired man's eyes snapped open, and the next thing I knew, I was dangling off the ground, being held up around my neck. "H-He-Hey!!" I tried to shout, but it came out sounding like a barely managed whisper. "Let-let go-o!" I began clawing at the man's hand, kicking at his chest. He just scowled at me in reply.  
  
"Who are you and what do you think you are doing?" the man asked me, but I didn't reply, as I continually kicked at his chest. His grip around my neck tightened, and it was then that I finally noticed that it was not a real arm, it was bionic! That is so unfair! I began choking, and so he loosed his grip a bit, so that I could answer his question. I think.  
  
"... No!!" I shouted, finding that I couldn't an answer to his question, and I began shaking my head violently, closing my eyes. If I was as strong as Mom, he would be dead now! "Let go of me!" I shouted once more, opening my eyes, and stopped shaking my head, glaring dark daggers at him. "I am not answering you!!" I tried kicking his arm that was holding me, but I couldn't reach it with my foot. At that moment, my hood decided to fall off my head, revealing my pale face, short deep, deep purple hair, and amber eyes. His blue eyes widened a bit in shock, then they narrowed once again.  
  
"Hm. A 13 year old version of Giovanna? Must be her daughter. Am I right?" the man asked, and I just growled at him, trying my hardest to break free of his ridiculously tight grip.  
  
"Let go!!"  
  
"Ran. Just blast him with Dark Matter. I can not believe I have raised such an idiot for a daughter..." I froze upon hearing my Mother's disappointed voice, my eyes extremely wide.  
  
~`Third person POV`~  
  
A dark form stepped out of the shadows, wearing a hooded cloak. They raised their arm, and flung off the hood, to reveal a smirking face. Georgia, who had awoken from the noise Ran had made, furrowed her eyebrows, "G-Giovanna?... It can't be! You're...you're dead!!" Giovanna chuckled, shaking out her hair, "No, Miss..." She looked to Anthony, then Erica, and snorted with laughter, " Bernadette... I'm not dead, as you can see so very well.." She stepped forward so that she was completely visible.  
  
Anthony released his grip on Ran, and scowled at Giovanna. Ran ran over to her mother, standing slightly behind her. "Ran, you fool girl, let me show you how to fight with silly little humans..." Giovanna let forth a billowing laugh, and formed a gigantic ball of Dark Matter, throwing it easily at Georgia. She was not ready at all, and the ball hit her strait on, causing an ear-splitting scream to echo from her lips.  
  
Giovanna snickered, turning to Anthony and sending a similar ball at him. He held out his bionic arm, and the energy bounced off, hitting a large rock, causing it to explode and send jagged pieces of stone everywhere, some piercing flesh. Anthony roared with rage, and shot his fist at Giovanna, hitting her smack dab in the face, causing her to stumble, and fall over. Ran stared in shock at the blood pouring from her mother's mouth, and glared at Anthony.  
  
She furrowed her eyebrows, and began to summon up a large ammount of black energy, but she felt a pain in her shoulder. She turned and saw her mother, standing gripping her shoulder, "Sit down, and get out of the way, Ran!" Giovanna growled, pushing her daughter to the side, and sending a gigantic ball of red, violet, and green light at Georgia. She screamed just as it engulfed her, holding her like a kite in the air, wavering like a bad tv image. She closed her eyes, and her voice could be heard like she was speaking from a long distance away.  
  
"NO!! ERICA!! Get away from it, don't- ERICA!!!!"  
  
Anthony watched as his wife twisted and screamed. He ran up to her, sticking his bionic arm through the energy, grabbing Georgia's. He yanked, and she came jolting out, waking up, sweat trickling down her pale cheeks. She wiped her face, glancing at ERica to make sure that she was okay, and then ran over to her sleeping bag, pulling her ARMs out from under it. She ran up to Giovanna, appearing to shoot, but instead kicked her strait in the jaw, knocking her over again. Georgia held her pistols out, pointing them at her rival's neck. Giovanna had a look of pain and suprise on her face, but only for a moment, for as Georgia was about to pull the trigger, she reached out and slugged the pistol of of her hand.  
  
Giovanna jumped up, pushing Georgia backwards. She got up, grabbed her ARM, and shot off a few bullets at Giovanna, who caught two of then in the gut, and one in the shoulder. She growled, letting out a frustrated scream.  
  
Giovanna quickly stood up, and sent several balls of violet energy at the teenagers who had awoken a few minutes before, and had been watching in astonishment. Kevin held out his ARM, and the ball of energy that had been sent at him hit it, and it went flying out of his hand. Two, which had been sent at Danae, went flying past him, and one hit Danae's shoulder, one the wall behind her. She screamed as a large hole appeared in her flesh, and blood began gushing out of it.  
  
Erica was too busy watching Danae get hit, so she didn't have time to block the 3 balls of energy that had been flying at her. One hit her in the hand, forming a small hole, and one in the thigh, which just grazed her, making a slightly larger hole. The other hit Razi, who was sitting beside her. Erica looked down at her wounds, "DAMNIT!" she screamed, clutching her bleeding wounds with both hands. For a moment Georgia scowled at her daughter, but then turned back to Giovanna, who had just attacked her, sending several bullets her way.  
  
For a fleeting moment Giovanna look frightened, but then her face contorted into a smirk. She held up both hands, palms forward, and in one a small ball of violet light formed, in the other, a black one. She grinned even wider, and slammed her palms together. For a moment nothing happened, but then a huge rumbling began beneath their feet. Erica screamed in fear, and ran over to her father, who embraced her. Suddenly a huge silver ball of energy flew out of the ground beneath them, sending chunks of earth and debris everywhere, and engulfing the team of Drifters/Teens.  
  
****-**=** Erica's POV  
  
I watched as a huge ball of silver.. stuff came out of the ground. It was gigantic in size, so much that it almost seemed like a huge monster, coming to swallow us up. Suddenly, it engulfed us all within it, and the last thing I saw was my mom and dad clutching eachother, and myself, then everything went black. 


	5. Kidnaped, Run Away, Jacqui Cascade, and ...

PianZoe: Yay, five reviews! *shoots fists up into air, grinning stupidly*

CiaHottie: ... Have you been taken over by Cinnaminna again?

PianZoe: NO!!!! As for the kitty sisters of my pink hair leave the ticket after the roar which now cannot come in the telephone.

CiaHottie: Translation: "NO!!!! My pink-haired kitty-sister can not come to the phone right now, leave a ticket after the roar." Does that mean that CLOVINNA took over you?

PianZoe: Clovinna is my name, to be, be, be, I never the name of booger! It does not have!

CiaHottie: Ok, that one I didn't understand... Eat the cookie, KITTY-SPICE!!! Oh no... Randomonia! Honkyhonkyhonkyhonkyhonky!!! *grins, eyes crossed* It is abandonment or, someone, the kitty spice of the sisters??

PianZoe: My range we want! No, my range we want, the kitty of the sisters of foolish CINNAMINNA!! *The stick with oneself plays in star cutting*

CiaHottie: *still somewhat sane, since doesn't have two insane kitty-minions trying to take over mind* Well... uh hum... I being not to decide who abandon both because of you!! UH HUM!! Dis... dis... *twitch, glare, snarl* 

PianZoe: Calling obtain, me permit the fact that it does that the speaker of the hat of the optional indigo! No, me!!! Abandonment: PianZoe or CiaHottie do not own the game of the arm of both wildness! That you make a mistake!! You said! Calling obtaining! PianZoe or CiaHottie do not own the game of the arm of wildness, those just are young! Being! It is not old!!! So there. I do not worry.

CiaHottie: As you can tell, neither of us own the Wild ARMs games, so... now we're going to continue to write! It is read, the reader and the critic whose Ohio state is patient so, it becomes!!

@% + !# = #*

... Silence. All was quiet. Giovanna stood, grinning malevolently down at the unconscious bodies of the nine humans. Ran stood, grinning from ear to ear, next to her mother, happy to actually be there to see what her mother had told her about so many times, for the first time. "Mom, that was great! Can I be there the next time yo-" before Ran could finish her sentence, a gunshot rang through the air. Ran's head whipped around in the direction of where the sound came, to see Kaitlyn standing flimsily above all the other adults, aiming her Gungnir HAG35 directly at Giovanna. Ran realized where Kaitlyn was pointing her ARM, and looked at her mother, to see her doubling over in pain. "Mommy?!"

"Ran... I've already... been... hit too many times. This... is just one too... many, I... guess. I'm sorry... please, continue with your Grandmother and my... dream... you can do... it... Ran... do it... make Filgaia... our's..." Giovanna murmured to her daughter, falling to her knees, clutching where she had been hit. Although she was dying, a smirk played over her lips, and she mustered an evil chortle, placed one of her hands on Ran's shoulder. "Promise me, foolish daughter... become strong... if you don't, I shall find a way... to come back and take care of you... myself..." Ran watched in horror, as her mother's eyes rolled upwards in her head, and she fell limply to the ground, her body fading away.

"No!! MOMMY! Don't die, you can't, not here, not because of a silly little human! Wake up! Stop fading, Mom... please..." Ran fell to her knees, and reached out to touch her mother, but her hand went right through Giovanna as if she was air. Tears welled up in Ran's eyes, threatening to spill, and she bit her lip. "Yes... I promise, Mommy... Filgaia will be ours... it will... be MINE... your's... and Grandma's... all the humans will suffer for this... they will... suffer... Painfully, they will be ours to torture and twist, Mo - AH!!" she was cut off abruptly, when she suddenly heard a loud gunshot, then felt a searing pain in her shoulder. She brought her hand up to feel it, and pulled it back, to see a thick red liquid on her hand. Blood. She narrowed her eyes, and look towards the humans, to see Kevin standing up next to his mother, just as shaky as her, aiming his Colère DR2 at her.

Shrieking in anger, she lifted her arm that was not injured, and blasted a sphere of dark energy at him, but before it could hit him, Kaitlyn pulled him up out of the way, just barely missing getting hit herself. This angered Ran that much more, making her shoot more energy spheres in their direction. Soon she had to rest, it was draining her. Sitting on the ground, panting for breath, she stared up at Kaitlyn, who was walking in her direction. "Don't come any closer!!" she exclaimed, holding up her arm that was not shot.

Kaitlyn ignored the threat, and just walked directly up to Ran. She brought her ARM up, and used it to push Ran's arm back down to her side. "Don't even try, I know that you're drained of energy, you can't fight more right now. Now, as soon as I'm finished saying this, I'll either shoot your head, or let you go. It depends on your answer. Do you realize, that your mother and Grandmother were just trying to basically kill a whole planet?"

"No, they wer-"

"Yes, they were going to consume the whole planet in a nightmare. A place where only they could live happily. Catch my drift? All of humanity on Filgaia would be trapped, forced to live in a world of darkness, and nightmares. Do you really want that? Are you really that selfish? Only you would be happy. You would have no one to live your life with. You would live, forever solitary. How many other dream demons would live in your world to accompany you?"

"There are more of us than you think!! And I do not care if I am lonely for the rest of my life, because I would be making my Mom and Grandma happy with the one thing they desired most! As long as they're happy, I DON'T CARE IF ANYONE ELSE IS!!!" Ran shouted, regaining enough strength to stand up, and begin to gather energy for another blast at Kaitlyn. 

Kaitlyn narrowed her eyes at Ran's answer, and aimed her Gungnir HAG35. "Then, I'm afraid that I'm just going to have to shoot you." she said, and just as she was about to pull the trigger, the small sphere of energy that Ran had gather hit the ARM, causing it to go flying out of her hands. Kaitlyn fell back a foot, giving Ran the opportunity to run. And run she did.

She began running, as fast as her tired legs would let her, but then, she got an idea. An idea to get back at the ones who killed her Mother. She halted, and turned back, heading towards the three unconscious Bernadettes. Her Mother would be proud of her for thinking up such a plan, she thought, causing her to smirk. As soon as she was standing next to the three humans, she held out her hands towards Erica, and muttered something inaudible. Erica began to float off the ground, engulfed in a sphere of what appeared to be television static. Then, the television static came closer together, then spread wide out, grabbing Ran, and then disappeared, taking the two with it. 

Kaitlyn had looked up just before it took them away, and she gasped as she saw what happened. She quickly got to her feet, and stumbled over to Anthony and Georgia, shaking them awake. "Anthony! Georgia!! Wake up! Erica, she-she's been kidnaped!" she exclaimed, which got the attention of the two she was trying to awaken. Their eyes snapped open, and Georgia jerked upwards, soon followed by Anthony. "Ran took her, just after I shot and killed Giovanna!!"

**** - ** = **

~In Nightmare Castle~

~`Erica's POV`~

I woke up, to find myself staring up at a girl with short, deep, deep purple hair, angry amber eyes, and a pale complection. I gulped when I saw her smirk suddenly, afraid for some reason. She looked familiar to me. It was a blur, but I remember something silver... and this girl and an older looking one standing beside her, smirking... I don't remember anything after that. I watched her as she stood up, and began walking a circle around me. "Who are you?" I asked her, and her smirk widened more.

"My name is Ran."

I nodded my head. "Ah, ok. And... where are we?"

"Nightmare castle, my home."

"Ok... so... who am I?"

The girl, Ran, stopped walking, and stared at me with a mildly surprised expression. "You don't know who you are?"

"No, not really."

"Oh, really... hm..." she stopped in front of me, and sat down, her legs folded like a pretzel. Her face was twisted up funny, and I sat up, so I could talk to her better. She looked back down at me, and told me straight out, "Your name is Erica."

My face lit up, I'm sure of it. Ok, so I do have a name. But, aren't I supposed to have a second name? Oh well, if I do, I'll just try and get it out of her later. "Erica...? I like it! So... how old are you and how old am I?"

"I'm 13 and you're... 11, I think. And, in case you ask these questions, I'm going to answer them before you do. I kidnaped you, to get back at your family for killing my Mother. I am a dream demon, you are a human. And because of this, you are now my slave. Not my friend. I won't talk to you, you won't talk to me, you'll listen to what I tell the Disasters to make you do, and do it willingly. If you have trouble with any of the areas in my castle, and you get lost in there, then try to find your own way out, no one will be coming to save you. Ok, that's about it. Your first task - cook ME dinner! And nothing gross! You will find a list of the stuff I like on the counter, and please don't try any new recipes. That's all, bye-bye!" and with that, my new master disappeared to who knows where. I sat there, frozen, replaying what I just heard over and over in my head, and I came to a decision. As soon as I found the door, I was out of here.

**** - ** = **

~`Third Person POV`~

~*Nine Months Later*~

Erica groaned as, for the thirtieth time since she arrived nine months ago (at least, she THOUGHT it was nine months ago, but this place was like an encased labyrinth, so she couldn't tell what time it was or what day), she couldn't find her way back to the kitchen. She turned a corner, and nearly jumped for joy upon finding a doorway to a new room. She opened it, and stepped inside, finding herself in a room she had never seen in all her time there. It seemed to be... an entrance hall. Her eyes widened upon this realization, and she glanced around, looking for a doorway out. A statue... a normal door... normal door... a couple of glass boxes with pink shimmery crystal type things floating in them... a staircase... a hallway with double doors at the end... another normal door... 'Wait! Hold on a minute here! Hallway with double doors!?'

Her eyes flitted back to the hallway, widening in the process. Maybe, just maybe, it was the exit out of this miserable dimension? Before she even knew what was happening, her legs were carrying her towards the door, as fast as they could go. A grin broke out across her face, while in her head she was trying her hardest to convince herself not to get her hopes too high, just in case it was just another door leading to another part in the maze of a castle.

When she reached the door, she skidded to a halt, and glanced wildly around, to make sure Ran or the Disasters weren't there. She turned back to the door, reached up, grabbed the handle, and pulled. To her luck, the door was surprisingly light, and unlocked. She opened it a crack, and peeked out. This couldn't be another part of Nightmare Castle, it looked too... dusty. And everything looked, somehow, normal, although the only place she could remember being was inside the dream dimension.

She stepped out the door, and suddenly felt a bit heavier, for a second, but only a second. Stumbling over her own feet, she took a couple more steps forward, then glanced backwards to where she came, and nearly fell over in shock. There was no door where she just stood, only another wall, which seemed too far away to be where she came from. She then looked down below her feet, to see what looked like ice, but it was not cold, and it glowed a bit. Instantly, she knew that she was STANDING on the door. Shaking her head, she momentarily wondered if this place was even stranger than Nightmare Castle.

She glanced around once more, to find a hole in the wall which looked strangely like a door. Coming from the hole was bright light, which made Erica grin, because she could only just barely remember sunlight, and it was like taking a bath after not for nine months (PianZoe: *shudders*). She ran out the door, and her eyes widened a bit. It was nothing like Nightmare Castle. Sand colored grass, dead trees, sand, oceans of it, and a bit of green grass. It was all foreign to her, but somehow, it was all familiar. So familiar, in fact, it gave her a bit of a headache.

"Wow. Ran kept me trapped in that... that... NIGHTMARE, when there was this out here?! Jeez, I'd have rather died that not have ever been out here! Sure, it's a bit too hot, but who cares about heat when you get to see... um... what's the word? ... Nature!" she exclaimed to herself, grinning like an idiot. After about five minutes, she scowled, and rolled her eyes. "And I guess living in there has made me have conversations with myself. Course, who ELSE is there to talk to?"

"Me."

"AHH!!"

Erica nearly leapt out of her skin when she heard an amused female voice come from behind her. She whirled around, her eyes as wide as saucers, and her face as pale as a sheet of paper, to see a woman standing at about 5'7", who looked about seventeen. She had short blue hair that came down just above her shoulders that was held in a some up some down hairdo, with three short strands of bangs hanging in her face, and piercing lime green eyes. She wore a tight black t-shirt with a very low v-neck, a blood red leather jacket over the t-shirt, black finger gloves, and a tight white mini skirt with a golden belt around it. Erica also couldn't help but notice the bayonet the woman held in her right hand... "Who... who are you?" she stuttered.

The woman chuckled a bit, and then began circling Erica, examining her, making her more nervous. "Uh..." Erica muttered as the woman stopped in front of her, and squatted down to her level, to look her straight in the eye. "Who... are you?" she repeated her previous question, and the woman just held out her hand, as if wanting to shake hands. Erica hesitantly brought her hand up into the woman's.

"Heh, it's not like I'm gonna bite you if you put your hand in mine, kid." the woman joked, chuckling as she watched Erica put her hand into her own. Shaking their hands softly, then letting go, she said, "There, that wasn't so hard, was it?" Seeing Erica shake her head as an answer, the woman continued. "To answer your question, I'm Jacqui Cascade. Who are you, and what are you doing out here all by yourself? And... how on Filgaia did you get here by yourself!?"

"Jacqui Cascade... Cascade..." Erica's face twisted up in thought, then just as quickly dropped, as if she just remembered something. 'I was right! You DO have to have a second name!' she thought, then shook herself out of her thoughts, and back to answering Jacqui. "Hm... Cascade. That's a nice last name! And... I'm Erica. I don't know my second name. In fact, I don't remember anything past nine months ago, when I found myself in Nightmare Castle with Ran and her Disasters..."

"Whoa, whoa, what? Nightmare Castle? Ran? Disasters? I think you have more than amnesia, kid, because this has never been a castle, and no one has ever LIVED here." Jacqui interrupted, raising an eyebrow at Erica, who glared at her, with narrowed eyes. "Anyway, continue."

"This is not Nightmare Castle. Nightmare Castle is in there," she pointed towards the doorway, then continued. "And, it's past that big blue circle thing... I think. I don't really know, because I was in it, and the next thing I knew, I was standing on that blue glass circle thingy..." she stated, and shook her head. "If you don't believe me, I don't blame you."

"... It is pretty far fetched, but I've heard of stranger things." Jacqui answered, then glanced over Erica's shoulder, frowning a bit. Then she looked back at Erica's face, and asked, "How old are you?"

"Er..." Erica was about to answer, but found she couldn't, because she didn't actually know how old she was. She begin racking her brain for any memory of her age, and one certain age seemed to flash itself in her face. "Um. Eleven, I think. How old are you?" she asked, being the ever curious preteen amnesiac.

Jacqui blinked, her frown deepening somewhat. "You're only eleven? Geez, you need to find someone to stay with. I guess I'm going to have to take you with me to help you find somewhere to stay; I may be selfish, but I'm not that heartless. Come on, let's go get on Guadeniosa, and get you a place to stay." Jacqui stood up, and began walking towards a set of stairs, then when she realized Erica wasn't following her, she turned around and, rolling her eyes, smirked in a way that almost looked more like a smile. "Oh, and to answer your question, I'm seventeen. Now are you going to come with me, or stay here and rot away, waiting for someone else? It'll be at least another year, kid, I would take my chances with me if I were you."

Erica chuckled nervously, and walked towards Jacqui a bit, then stopped, and tilted her head to the side. "Um... what's a... Guadeniosa?" she asked, bringing her head back up, and looking at Jacqui in confusion.

Jacqui chuckled, and motioned to her right. Erica turned her head in that direction, and gasped in shock, jumping, and paling a bit as well. "That, is Guadeniosa. That's her name. She is the only other dragon alive, besides that one that I've heard some about... Lombardia, was it? I think so." about three yards away from them (Erica didn't know HOW she missed it) was a dragon. It was like nothing Erica could remember ever seeing - it looked like a living, breathing, and flying fighting machine (which, really, is what it is. Oh, and Guadeniosa is a bit smaller than Lombardia, and is purple and gold, instead of blue and silver).

Erica blinked a couple times, and looked over to Jacqui, who was grinning at her. "Eh, heh, heh, ok... a dragon... you don't exactly see one of those everyday... heh, uh... wait a minute... We have to get ON that thing!?"

Jacqui's grin changed to a frown quicker than you could say 'scowl'. "Hey! She is not a THING, she is a girl dragon named Guadeniosa! Get your facts straight, kid."

"Ok, ok. Fine then. We have to get ON Guadeniosa!?"

"Yep. What, did you think I walked here? That would take at the least a week, with my horrifying climbing skill. For someone with good climbing skill, it'd take... oh, say... at the least, five days. Now come on, let's get to a town and drop you off, so you won't be alone any more, and I don't have to take care of you."

"Oh, you're so nice."

"I know."

**** - ** = **

Jacqui tried dragging an airsick Erica out of Guadeniosa, grumbling about having to clean up the seat when she got back. Erica was refusing to move more than three inches a minute, so Jacqui, grumbling all the more, picked the girl up, and carried her into the town. If she had eyes in the back of her head, she would have seen the triumphant smirk that played across Erica's pale features. 'Hee, hee, hee, she thinks I can't walk very well because of accidently puking on my seat. This is great! A free ride... I hate walking any farther than I have to anyway, and she landed SO far away from the town... hehehehe...'

"... stupid kid..." Erica heard Jacqui grumbling, causing her smirk to form into a real smile, and causing herself to get into a fit of giggles. Which, in turn, made the already irritable Jacqui Cascade, drop the hysterical Erica onto the ground, seething, all the while muttering very colorful things about the black haired girl. "Get up and follow me, ya' damn kid." she spat at Erica, who quit giggling almost immediately, her mood changed from humorous, to ticked at being called 'damn kid'.

"SO I'M A DAMN KID, AM I!?" Erica exclaimed, getting to her feet. Several people who were passing looked her way, some glaring, some confused, and some were just startled that a kid had such a loud voice. "WELL, Ms. I'm-a-damned-bitch-but-think-I'm-better-than-other-people, YOU'RE A DAMN TEENAGER! HMPH!!" And with that 'said', Erica stormed angrily into the town, to get away from the blue haired teenager, whom she find quite irritating.

Jacqui stood in the same spot, staring after the enraged ebony haired preteen, slightly startled that such an annoying little brat can be so... so annoying one minute, and then so much like herself the next minute. Then, suddenly, she smirk, as a wonderful idea came to her. "Heh, heh, heh..." she chuckled, then slowly sauntered into the town, getting the feel that the bouncy raven haired preteen was not going to have any luck in finding a family to take her in - especially, if she had anything to say about it.

Meanwhile, Erica, in her rage, had been turned down from three families already - which made her calm down somewhat. "I can't blame them, really," she mumbled to herself, as she knocked on a door to another house, then withdrew her hand from the door. "I mean, who would want a bitchy eleven year old girl for a fake daughter? I know I certainly wouldn't!" she exclaimed, then looked up at the door, just in time to see a confused and somewhat ticked woman slam the door in her face. This caused Erica to smack her forehead, and groan angrily at herself. "Or a eleven year old bitchy girl who TALKS TO HERSELF. Ugh..."

"Hehehehe. No luck, eh, brat?"

Erica spun around, her anger at herself turning to Jacqui. "YOU!! It's your fault! You made me angry, and now because of that, I can't find a place to stay until I find my real family!! Get on your dragon and GET AWAY FROM ME!!"

"Hmm... nah, I think I'll hang around a little longer. I've taken a liking to you."

"WELL I HAVEN'T!"

"You don't like yourself?" Jacqui asked, grinning in a mocking way, which made Erica even angrier.

"THAT'S NOT WHAT I MEANT!!"

"Then what did you mean?"

"I MEANT, I HAVEN'T TAKEN A LIKING TO YOU!!"

"Ohh, you should be more clear in speaking, brat."

Erica, now feeling as if she were to burst on fire from her anger at the blue haired teenager, stormed down the stairs, and then in the direction of the house next to that one. "That stupid blue haired bitch. She's so... VEXING!! If I had some ARM or magic or something I'd kill her right now... or at least severely MAIM her..."

"You won't find anyone to take you in, brat."

Erica spun around, with a look of animosity on her face. "OH really? Then why did you take me here then?! Jeez, you're an idiot if you think I'm stupid enough to fall for THAT. I mean, sure, I am no angel - although, I don't know, I might have been before, I just don't REMEMBER - but it's not like everyone is just going to leave an innocent little child with no recollection of who she was - or, actually, is..."

"They will." Jacqui cut Erica off before she could continue, and slowly sauntered up to the door of the next house. She gently knocked on the door, and threw a nasty look over her shoulder at Erica, before turning back to the door with a normal look on her face. The door opened slowly, to reveal a scantily clad woman that looked to be about forty, with extremely long curly red hair held in a high ponytail. 

"What do you want?" the woman snapped, crossing her arms and tapping her foot in an obviously irritated manner. "I'm sort of busy, so, do hurry it up."

Jacqui frowned at the woman's rude behavior, but shrugged it off. "I was just going to tell you-" but she was cut off by an angered cry from inside the house.

"MOM!!! GET BACK IN HERE!" a young, enraged female voice exclaimed from a room in the house, making the rude woman, hold her index finger in front of herself, indicating that she would be back in just a moment. Jacqui blinked as the red haired woman stormed back into the house, and then began shouting at her daughter - or, Jacqui figured, from what the other female in the house had shouted, it was the rude woman's daughter. After a few moments, another loud shout came from the younger voice. "THAT'S IT, MOM, I'M LEAVING! And I'm NOT coming BACK!!"

Soon, a girl who stood about three inches shorter than Jacqui, and looked to be about fifteen, stormed out, angry tears spilling down her face. She had ringlets, that came down just below her shoulders, vibrant emerald eyes, and was only a bit more clothed than her mother. She stopped in the doorway, glared at Jacqui, then Erica, then stormed down the street, a knapsack slung over her shoulder, and a Goldshiemer PSA115 (CiaHottie: I made up the name of this ARM!) ARM in her hands.

Jacqui and Erica stared after the girl for a bit, then they both shrugged, and turned back to the house, to see the woman, standing there, leaning against the doorway, tears very obvious in her eyes - but she tried hiding them by frowning at Jacqui. "So? What... what were you going to say, again?"

"Never mind that. What's got your daughter all worked up?" Jacqui asked, snorting about the rude woman's daughter's angry departure. The woman couldn't seem to be keep up the I-don't-care act when Jacqui asked this, because almost immediately, she sunk down into a crouch, her hands covering her face as she sobbed silently.

"It... it's my fault..." the woman stated, making Erica walked up and place her hand on the red head's shoulder, sympathetically.

"What's your fault, ma'am?"

"The rea... reason my daughter left me... it's my... my fault..." the woman sobbed, and Erica patted her back, not knowing what to do. Jacqui decided this was the perfect moment to tell everyone else in the town that if they took Erica in, she would kill them, and snuck off.

"Can you tell me? Please? Maybe I can help..." Erica offered, and the woman's sobs got a bit louder.

"No one can help, you hear? No one!! Fifteen years ago, when I had her, my... my love accused me of lying to him about us being married - you see, he had been intoxicated, and I had been pretty muchly sober, when I met him. I... I... I fell for him with one glance. He had been a bit, you know, scruffy at that time, but if he had just been a bit cleaner he would have b... been the most handsome man I had ever laid eyes on..." here, the woman choked back a huge sob, and glanced up at Erica for a moment, blinking her eyes, then shaking her head as if shaking out of her thoughts. "Anyway, I was... well... this might be too old for you, but I don't care, you'll hear about this stuff one day... I was hired to have sex with rich men. But, if I got married, I could get out of it.

"I saw this handsome, slightly clumsy, intoxicated man as my chance to escape the miserable occupation I had been in since I was fifteen. So, I walked over to him, and... and flirted a bit, soon asking him to dance. We danced until he passed out, and I had to ask the manager - who knew me quite well by then, for obvious reasons - what his room number was, and if I could borrow a set of keys so I could take him to his room. The manager, Rudey, figured that this man was just another of my... hmm... what's the word? Another of my... my victims... so, I took him up to his room, and waited for him to wake up. When he did, he was going crazy with questions - well, until he got sick all over himself, that is. Hehehehe."

The woman chuckled for a moment, before dissolving back into sobs. "Um... Ma'am? I hope you don't mind me asking, but... What does this have to do with your daughter's anger at you?" Erica asked, giving the woman a confused look.

The woman glared at Erica for a moment, then looked down at her knees, and fell backwards onto her posterior. "This has a lot to do with it. Now shut up and listen, I feel like confessing the truth to SOMEONE. And if it's to you, a mere stranger - a child, no less - to me, I feel better."

"Ok, ok, continue."

"Thank you. Now, like I was saying, the handsome man had gotten sick all over himself, so I made him get up off the bed, so I could clean him up. After he was clean once more - or, at least, as clean as he was before he puked up his drinks, and dinner - I decided to do one of the only things I knew I could do really, really well. I made him sit back down on the bed - at this point, he didn't care if his questions were answered, he seemed to be too drunk to care... and he had this adorable clueless look on his face, which attracted me even more - and I sat down on his lap, cooing about how handsome and... and sexy he was. After that, you... you can guess what happened..."

The woman stopped for a moment once more, glancing at Erica, who looked sick - she may have had amnesia, but she could remember about SOME things. Laughing at Erica's face, the woman continued. "Well, the morning after, the man was had a hangover, like expected, and could not remember a thing. I had hoped that would be the case, so I could carry out my plan, y'know. He had no clue who I was, or how he got into his room, so, I told him what I planned to tell him from the beginning. I believe I remember the exact thing I said, too... I think it was: "My name is Aiko Eleniak; the reason you can't remember anything is because you drank too much last night; and, we met last night when you were only a bit intoxicated - it was love at first sight, so... then we went and got married." He believed me, as luck would have it. This was what I also told my employer, and anyone who asked who the 'handsome stranger' was. But then...

"But then I found out he had made me pregnant. I had never wanted a child. I only wanted him... just him... just to get married for real, and live with him for the rest of my life. But, when I told him about the child, he seemed... thrilled, strangely... I had thought, from his personality, he disliked children as much as I did. So, because the thought of a child made him happy, I decided I would keep it. Those nine months were the longest, most dreadful things I ever had to go through. But he was with me, through the whole thing, comforting me. All because, he thought I was his wife - and I thought he had loved me, at the time. When I was actually having the baby, he was still there - although, he did look a little green as he watched - comforting me like the sweety he really was underneath, even though I was shouting at him to shut up at the time. 

"As soon as our daughter, Anastasia, was born, and I looked at her small face, I was happy. I mean, even though she didn't look a thing like her father - except for her nose and mouth, maybe - she was still beautiful. I had hated her when she was inside me, but when I actually saw her, everything was wonderful. And... and... I made the biggest mistake of my life, because I felt guilty about lying about such a huge thing to him. And I told him the truth. That I had lied about us being married... he nearly had a heart attack at that moment, I could tell by the shock on his face. He then... began shouting profanities... and... and then he left... he just left... that is the last I ever saw of him. He never even got to hold his daughter..."

The woman - Aiko - sniffled, rubbing her eyes with the back of her right hand, while Erica just continued to listen intently. "And... and I had told Anastasia that the reason she had no father, was because he had been killed, when he was battling a monster for a nearby town. But... she found the small journal I kept, and read the last chapter in it, finding out that I had lied to her about why she had no father - that was only just after your friend wanted to speak to me. And now... I've lost the one person most precious to me, besides the man who gave her to me..."

Erica nodded her head, her face showing sympathy, until she remembered what Aiko had called Jacqui, and she snorted. "My friend... yeah, heh, right. Jacqui? That'll happen only when I'm a pleasure slave for a rat..." Aiko looked at her strangely, and that was when Jacqui walked back up to them, grinning like she had conquered Filgaia.

She grabbed Erica's arm, pulled her up by it, and turned her around to face herself, putting on a fake mask of sympathy. "I'm sorry Erica, I tried to find you a place to stay - really I did. But, it's just, no one wants to take care of an eleven year old little girl, then give her up when she finds her real family. I guess you'll just have to stay with me..." she feigned a tender, understanding voice, to go with her look, while underneath she was plotting her scheme to turn Erica more into herself.

Erica's face turned to shock, then irritation, and then disgust. "No chance, I'd rather stay here and rot in the street than go anywhere with you." she snapped, then turned to Aiko, and smiled a bit. "I hope you find your daughter, and your old love, Aiko. See you." then she turned around, brushed angrily past Jacqui, and stormed down the road, towards an inn, not knowing that Jacqui was following right behind her.

"It's a bummer you don't wanna come with me, kid. Because, y'know, you have potential." she heard Jacqui's sniggering voice, which caused her to come to a halt, and spin around, her eyes narrow.

"What do you mean...?"

"I meant what I said. You have potential - you could be great."

"Great at what?"

"At being a Drifter, of course."

"..." Erica blinked twice, and stared, wide eyed at Jacqui, speechless. "Wha... what?"

Jacqui sighed irritably, and rolled her eyes, muttering, "Geez, what, is this kid deaf?" then looking back down at the stunned Erica, and half smirking. "Let me repeat this in slow motion. You... would... make... a... great... Drifter. You get it now?"

"I... I don't remember much, but... I remember Drifters... I would make a good one? Really?!"

"Yeah. A great treasure-hunting Drifter. You and I could make an unstoppable team, kid."

"Ooo... that sounds... kinda fun. How...?"

"How do you become one? Simple." Jacqui's smirk grew larger, as she began leading Erica back to Guadeniosa. "Come with me - I'll teach you all I know. Even how to handle ARMs."

Erica blinked, and grinned. "But, Jacqui, I think I remember being able to use ARMs..."

"Huh. Well, ok then! What type of ARMs?"

"They were... duel pistols. That's all I remember... I don't remember their names..."

"Ok then. We'll buy you a couple pistols, make sure you can handle them, and THEN I can teach you all I know."


	6. Four Years Later

CiaHottie: Thank you for all the reviews, everyone! Sorry it's taken us so long to get done with chapter five, but at least we kept at it! Okay, so PianZoe will be writing this chapter, because she has some pretty good ideas for it. Alright?

PianZoe: It is and master of the wall of yellow rosafarbene writes this chapter, being to possess the bright thought that being for this chapter! I gave that to her, the proper. [ Haughtily Grinsen ]

CiaHottie: Ehh...I think that her random, insane minions are still controlling her..

PianZoe: [groans] YES, and I wish they weren't... Like you destiny of the black leather balloon where it presumed? We very are clear, that to the right due to us! See? [ On it covers them themselves, stare ]

CiaHottie: I've told you once, I've told you a hundred times, MY NAME IS NOT 'FATE OF THE BLACK LEATHER BALLOON!!' [exhales sharply]

PianZoe: Namely, why it was ' the destiny ' of the leather balloon where I am black, CiaHottie. Hectar and Hectar! Me who receive those there, am not? [ Now effect is produced on the raspberry,] explain renouncement to those, I am not moved by that way.

CiaHottie: Umm..What the hell did you just say?.............[scratches head]

PianZoe: I think I told you to... say the actual disclaimer... I called that it is which, that now say, did I how say?

CiaHottie: Umm...Well, PianZoe and I don't own any of the original WA3 characters, but we do own a lot of the characters in this story. Is that what you meant, PianZoe?

PianZoe: Yes, that's what I meant... Which that!! [ Innocently Grinsen ]

CiaHottie: W-well, on with the chapter! ....Heh...[glances to the side]

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...:::Four years later:::...

In Little Twister, in the Honey of Roses inn, sitting at a table, was a fifteen year old girl, staring into her plate of breakfast, frowning for no apparent reason. Her hair was dark auburn in color, came down about to her waist if let down, and was held up in a high ponytail, with a black headband through her hair, and her eyes were a deep violet. She wore a deep azure cardigan, with a black tight t-shirt, black leather gloves, a tight jean mini skirt with a black leather belt around it, with holsters holding an Effacez MLX34 and a Conciliateur 67 K/V (CiaHottie: I made up those), and even deeper azure than her cardigan leather boots. Her arms were crossed in front of her, and under the table her legs were stretched out, since she was alone at the table.

She was so immersed in her thoughts, that she didn't noticed someone standing beside her until they cleared their throat. She jumped, startled, and looked up at the person who had made her jump from her thoughts. It was a boy, about her age, with a mop of messy crimson hair, freckles, and brown eyes. She smiled, her face reddening upon seeing him, and chuckled. "Hello, Putnam! Uh... what is it?" she asked, and Putnam grinned - his face a bit flushed - back at her.

"I've been trying to get your attention for a few minutes, Vedette. I was asking if you wanted anything to drink with your breakfast?" Putnam asked, and Vedette blinked, looking down at her plate of eggs, ham, and toast, then looking back up at him, smiling politely.

"Yes, actually! Milk sounds good." she said, and Putnam nodded, walking back into the back part of the inn. Vedette sat there a few moments longer, drumming her fingers on the table, and humming a pretty tune. She decided to sing to it, quietly, until Putnam got back with her milk. "I can still recall the smell of smoke from rusting guns, Lying here beneath this starry desert sky Tired from the fight, I fall into a slumber, With the memories of days gone by. What was the name I called out in my dream? Guess for now only heaven knows..." she stopped, one reason because that was the end of the song, and another because Putnam had come with her milk. She smiled once more up at him. "Thank you, Putnam."

"You're welcome, Vedette." he said, then began to head back towards the back part of the inn, but was suddenly stopped when he was pulled back by a couple hands on his wrist.

"Wait, Putnam, do you want to join me? At least until my comrades wake up and get down here?" she asked him, as politely as she could, and he bit his lip, looking back at her.

"But, what if my Dad and Grandma need help...?" he began, but was cut off by Vedette, who chuckled.

"I'm sure you can take a few minutes off just to sit with me... just five minutes, ok? Please?" she asked, her face contorting into a pout, which made Putnam laugh, shaking his head.

"Ok, ok, I give up. Five minutes." he chuckled, and sat down in the chair to the left of Vedette, making her smile. She then began to eat, staring at anything she could, feeling slightly awkward. "So..." Putnam's voice broke into her thoughts, making her turn her head to him, smiling again. 'At this rate, my mouth is gonna look like this forever...' she thought sarcastically, waiting for Putnam to continue.

"So...?" she urged, blinking at him.

"So... what should we talk about?" he asked, and Vedette shrugged, taking a bite of her ham, and chewing it up.

"Well... I dunno. How is your Grandma Angela doing?" she asked, causing Putnam to chuckle a bit and lean his head back, to stare at the ceiling.

"She's doing perfectly well. Except, she's been afraid that she's gonna have to move somewhere a little less dusty - claims that the dust is getting to her head."

"Ah, I see. So... have you served any interesting customers lately?"

"Eh, only you and your friends mostly all week."

"But we just came in yesterday?!"

"I know."

"Geez..."

"Oh, and the day before yesterday, a couple of Drifters came in - I didn't see their faces, though, they were wearing hooded cloaks - and were talking about some type of lead to a big gem or something. Another Drifter - a beautiful woman - was sitting at another table, and after the two cloaked Drifters finished speaking about the gem she left. They left soon after."

"Ooo, a lead? Hm... did they mention anything about where the gem might be?"

"No, they didn't... Why?"

"Well, Putnam, I AM a Drifter, you know."

"Oh, right, right, I forgot - I mean, you are only fifteen..."

Vedette stood up abruptly, glaring down at him. "How can you say that?! You're sixteen! There's not much difference! One year? Pff, one year is nothing." she exclaimed, sitting back down, and stuffing a bite of egg in her mouth, her eyes narrowed at Putnam, who was blinking at her in slight shock.

"No, that's not what I meant." he stated, shaking his head, and glancing towards the door of the inn. "What I meant, was, it's easy to forget that you're a Drifter, because most Drifters I've met have been at least eighteen."

As soon as that was out of his mouth, the sound of a door slamming was heard, then loud footsteps were heard from upstairs, obviously from someone running. Vedette automatically knew who those footsteps belonged to, and sighed, quickly stuffing the rest of her breakfast in her mouth before the owner of the footsteps got down their to steal it from her. "5... 4... 3... 2... 1..." she counted backwards, holding up a hand and putting a finger down for each number.

Just as she expected, a tall boy of about nineteen, standing at about six feet, came bounding down the stairs, and then plopped quickly into the chair across from her, grinning from ear to ear. "Hey Vedette! Hey Putnam, can you get me eggs, hash browns, ham, and toast? Thanks." he greeted, and Putnam nodded, standing up, pushing his chair in, and going back to the back of the inn once more.

"Good morning Razi." Vedette sighed irritably, glaring at the red-head, who hadn't changed much in appearance from when he was fifteen, except his hair was longer, and was held in a very, very loose ponytail.

Soon following the loud red head was two obvious siblings. They didn't look a thing alike in appearance, but the way they fought was proof. The male of the two stood at 5'11", had reddish brown hair that was spiky, and bright blue eyes. He wore a crimson tank top with a black leather jacket over it, black slacks, and black hiking boots. The female of the two stood ten inches shorter than the male, had emerald green hair that came down just a little below her shoulders but was pulled back in a low ponytail, her bangs hanging in her face, and light brown eyes. She wore a pair of glasses, a tight dark orange turtle neck t-shirt with a fringe around the bottom edge, a brown leather jacket that came down just below her posterior, tight black jeans with a belt of ammunition around her waist, and light orange boots. The male looked to be about seventeen, and the female looked to be about fourteen.

"Kevin, where did you put it?!" the female of the siblings shouted at the male, who just scoffed and rolled his eyes, walking down the stairs while loading an ARM - Orienteur JSC235, was the ARM's name (CiaHottie: I know, I know, he had a different ARM before, but it got destroyed in the Giovanna battle) - and then looked at the green haired female, who was giving him a look that, if looks could kill, he'd be shot through the head and lying, having bled to death, on the floor.

"Denae, I'm not giving it back to you until you stop obsessing over it. I mean, you should spend more of your time with your teammates, rather than with that stupid book." Kevin snorted, walking over to Vedette's table and sitting to her left, followed by Denae who sat down across from Kevin, not taking her glare off of her brother's face.

"If you would like for me to join you three in doing whatever it is that you do without my assistance, then why haven't you ever shown me?" Denae huffed, crossing her arms, and straightening her back. Kevin just rolled his eyes and smacked his forehead.

"Denae, we don't do anything without your help, and you know it! It's just that whenever we have nothing really to do, someone asks you if you want to do something, but you just ignore them and go off to read that book!" Kevin snapped, glaring right back at his sister.

As Denae was about to retort to that, an exclamation from Vedette cut her off. "SHUT UP!!" she glared evilly at the siblings - who looked back at her, sheepishly. She glanced at Razi out of the corner of her eyes, then back to Kevin, then Denae, and then she sat back down, seeing that everyone was quiet. "Heh... heh... sorry... I just wanted you guys to listen to me for a moment... unlike you WERE..."

"Sorry, Vedette..."

"I apologize..."

"Hey, I didn't say anythin', 'Dette! I was listenin'!"

Vedette turned to glare at Razi, playfully. "You would have."

Razi chuckled, and held up his hands in surrender. "Yeah, yeah, you're right, I woulda."

Vedette nodded at him, smirking, and then began to tell the others what Putnam told her just a little while before. "... and, so, do you guys think we should go after whatever those other three Drifters went after? I could ask Putnam's Dad, Grandma and sister if they heard anything from those two cloaked figures... you guys could go around town and see if anyone else heard anything. What do you think?" she finished, a grin spread across her face.

Denae looked at Kevin, then back to Vedette, a look of thought plastered on her face. "I think... yes, we should. This is the first lead we have found since we became a Drifter team... and who knows? Maybe one of those Drifters is in contact with Erica, or something..." she trailed off, glancing first at Razi, then at Kevin, who both seemed more interested in the idea now that Denae had stated the possibility that one of the Drifters could possibly know the whereabouts of Erica.

"Yeah! Hurry, let's go, maybe we can there before lunch!" Razi exclaimed, jumped to his feet, and rushed out the door, without even touching his breakfast. Denae, Kevin, and Vedette looked at each other with very deep shock playing across their faces, until Razi came rushing back in, gobbled down half of his food in about thirty seconds, then sprinted right back out, causing the two girls to burst into fits of giggles, and Kevin to scowl, then sprint right out the door behind Razi, not caring about his food at all.

"I cannot believe those two... still competing about Erica after four years of not seeing her! And she's not even here, either. Hilarious." Vedette giggled, and stood up as Denae nodded her head in agreement, walking out the door in an opposite direction than the one the boys were in. Vedette got herself under control, and walked towards the front desk, where Putnam's sister, Lyris, was standing, waiting to help someone. Lyris had dishwater blonde hair that came down just below her posterior that she always kept in a loose low braid, and copper colored eyes. As Vedette approached, Lyris glanced up at her, and smiled politely, placing her pen behind her ear.

"Hello, Vedette. What can I do for you?" Lyris asked, lacing her fingers together, and placing her hands down on the counter. Glancing at Lyris' face, then the door, then Lyris' face again, Vedette smiled and crossed her arms.

"Well... earlier I was speaking to your brother, Putnam, and he said that the day before yesterday I believe it was, a couple hooded Drifters came in, and were talking about a lead to a big gem or something, and I was wondering if you heard anything they said about it?" she asked, looking hopefully up at the girl who was five inches taller than herself, and who was now obviously deep in thought by the look on her face.

"Hm... day before yesterday? Um... yes, yes, I remember two hooded Drifters on that day... same day that the beautiful red head girl came in... the one that I served... yeah... they were sitting across from her, I heard them talking about that lead to whatever it was... one of them said something like, 'So, it's at that newly discovered ruin around here?' then the other one answered, 'Yeah, at the one only about an hour on foot from here,' and that's when the pretty red head stood up, paid me, and left... she never even got her coffee, I just remembered... I hope she comes back..." Lyris rambled, then noticed the strange look that Vedette was giving her - a mix of confusion and disgust - and her face flushed. "Just to give her the coffee she ordered but forgot, of course! Heh, heh... heh..."

Vedette rolled her eyes, snickered, and looked back at Lyris, crossing her arms. "Sure, and is that why you called her a 'beautiful redhead'?" she inquired, in mock-innocence, smiling with the same faux innocence. Her inquiry caused Lyris' face to flush a deeper magenta, and she looked down at the counter in front of her, her right hand playing with the pen behind her ear.

"Well... er... she... she was... beautiful... every one here would agree with me, 'Dette. Yeah... my Grandma agrees with me... just ask her! And it's... it's really the only way to describe her..." Lyris stuttered, a dreamy look floating across her flushed face. Vedette giggled at this, causing Lyris to snap out of her dream world, and her face to redden more.

"Come on, Lyris. I've only known you for a short time, and already I can very obviously tell that you're... well... you're not straight. You've sure given enough hints to it." Vedette stated, causing Lyris to look down, finding a sudden interest in her shoes. Vedette then turned, walking towards the door, and glanced over her shoulder, smiling. "I don't hold it against you. Just... PLEASE don't look at me like that, ok? Well, I've gotta go, the others are probably done checking around town..."

As Vedette as walking out the door, she bumped into Denae, who was just heading into the Inn. "Ah! 'Dette! I was looking for you! We were afraid Lyris had cornered you or something..." she snickered, at the horror stricken expression that crossed Vedette's features, as she froze on the spot, staring at Denae in complete horror. "Hehehehe... you know what I mean, right, 'Dette? She so obviously is attracted to you! The way she watches your-"

"PERVERT!! DENAE, YOU PERVERT!" Vedette shrieked, dissolving into a fit of hysterical laughter.

Denae just grinned, and placed her hands on her hips. "Yes, I know, I know, I am my Mother's daughter. So... did she corner you?" Denae questioned, using a similar fake innocent smile to Vedette's, trying her hardest not to snicker again. Vedette just looked at her, her eyes narrowed in annoyance, and her lips pursed, causing Denae to chuckle and turn around, heading towards another building. "Sorry, couldn't resist. I know she wouldn't corner you, she's too polite and knows you like her brother." at the mention of her crush on Putnam, Vedette's face reddened a bit. "Did you find anything out?"

"Yeah, as a matter of fact. There is a ruin only an hour's walk on foot from here. On horseback it would probably take a half hour, if we made them go fast enough." Vedette said, trying, but failing, to make her burning cheeks cool down, as she followed closely behind Denae.

"Okay, that helps. A whole lot. But in what direction, did anyone tell you?" Denae turned around, so she was walking backwards in the direction of the building, stumbling over rocks every once and a while.

"Um... Lyris didn't say. Should we ask someone else?" Vedette inquired, looking at Denae with a curious expression, as she followed her. Denae rolled her eyes, nodded her head, and turned around to walk normally, obviously getting tired of tripping over things she couldn't see. "But... who?"

"Well, I don't know! Maybe the boys found something out? We'll wait to ask until we find them, doesn't that make sense? ... Sometimes, I really wonder about you, Ved - oof!!" Denae, although she had been facing forward, had been looking over her shoulder at Vedette, so she had not been able to see that she was heading directly for a short, hooded, and cloaked figure, who had their back turned to her; which ended in both lying in a jumble on the ground. Denae, enraged by whoever dared to knocked over the great, gorgeous, genius Denae Kayla Lorelei, began shouting whatever came to mind. "HOW _DARE_ YOU?! YOU KNOCKED ME OVER! DO YOU KNOW WHO I AM!? I AM THE BEAUTIFUL, GENIUS DENAE KAYLA LORELEI! HOW CAN YOU BE SO... SO... INCONSIDERATE?! WATCH WHERE YOU'RE GOING NEXT TIME, YOU DAMN -"

"Uh hem." the small hooded figure cleared their throat, poking Denae in the shoulder. "I was just, I dunno, curious to see if you would like to move? I am sure, this isn't that comfortable for me, and it can't be for you. And, plus, this can't look too nice to the people around us. So, what do you say? Relieve me of your terrible weight, and stench, and relieve yourself from further humiliation?" the figure continued, in an overly sugar-coated syrupy sweet voice, that made Vedette scowl, and want to gag. It made Denae, however, snarl, and want to severely maim the figure, which, from the sound of it's voice, was a young girl.

"Ooooo... FIRST, you knock me over, THEN, you say I'm overweight and I stink?! I oughta be beating your face in you little-!!" Denae exclaimed, her face as red as a mega berry (A/n: I can't remember, are they red?), but was once again, cut off by the figure, who, this time, raised her arm - the long black sleeve falling from it, revealing a petite black-gloved hand - and wrapped her hand around Denae's mouth.

"I think you misunderstood me, Miss Lorelei. How can I make myself more clear, so your puny little brain can understand... hmm... oh, I know. Get. Off. Me. This. Instant. You. Fat. Cow." the girl drawled slowly, as if to a three year old. Denae did as the figure asked - but, as she did so, she grabbed the figure's cloak around it's neck, and lifted it off the ground. The hood did not fall from the figure's face, but from the sound of the sigh that emitted from underneath, Denae and Vedette could tell she was annoyed. "Look. I really don't have the time to waste with silly little hu-GIRLS like you, can you put me down?" the figure's bored tone questioned.

"Oh, I'll put you DOWN all right." Denae ground out, her hand balling into a fist, and she pulled it behind her, in a motion showing that she was just waiting for the chance to punch the short girl she was holding. "DOWN, six feet under!! Any last words?" she snarled, and the figure's hooded head just nodded once.

"Last words, last words... yes, I have some of those. But, I am sorry, I'm not scheduled to say them for another... hm... what was it... another thousand years? Yes, I am sorry to disappoint you, but you won't have the pleasure to hear them... now, kindly put me down, and you won't have to see your intestines today. Trust me, they're not that pretty." the figure said, reaching a hand around behind her, and pulling out a long, black, extremely sharp looking, blade, with a rose carved into the black handle.

Denae gulped, laughed nervously, and placed the figure back on the ground, gently. "Sorry to ha-have... bothered you. That-that's a nice... er, sword you ha-have... we-well, we have to be going now, see yo-you later!" she stuttered, walking backwards, grabbing Vedette's hand, and running, dragging her friend behind her. "That girl is CRAZY!!" she shrieked as she ran, stopping once she was inside the old police station, one of her hands resting over her racing heart.

Vedette, who had fallen flat on her face as soon as Denae had let go of her hand, propped herself up on her elbows, and glared up at the green haired female who seemed to be quite surprised at the reaction she got from the small girl. "Well gee, I wonder why? It CAN'T be because you threatened to kill HER. Who would threaten to kill someone who threatened to kill them? I sure wouldn't, I would just ask them to tea at my sister's house, then perhaps a good stroll through the sticker patch!" Vedette snapped, banging her fist on the dust-blanketed floor, which resulted in puffs of dust flying into the air, and into her face. "Really, Denaaaa... aaaaAACHOO!!" Vedette cut herself off with a sneeze, that made more dust fly into the air. "Aaa... aaaaa..." once again, Vedette found herself sneezing, which resulted in even MORE dust flying off the floor and into the air. Vedette did the only thing she could do other than sneeze - go into a fit of coughing.

Denae, after calming her racing pulse, snickered at Vedette's dust predicament. "Hah. That is what you get for being so cranky." she grinned, pushing her glasses up her nose.

After she was able to breathe again, Vedette tried to think of something to use to get even with Denae. 'Embarrass her? Nah. Hurt her? Possibly... Aha!' she thought, smirking up at her younger friend. Slowly, so Denae wouldn't notice the movement, she extended her arm in the direction of Denae's right ankle. As her hand reached it's destination, Vedette shouted out, "Oh, Denae, look! It's the figure and she brought her evil sword to chop you up!" which caused Denae to jerk her head towards the jail cells, giving Vedette the perfect opportunity to grab her ankle, and pull it out from under her. "Made ya' look!"

"He-oof!" Denae then found herself flat on her back, with puffs of dust floating around her, and her brother and Razi staring down at her. Blinking, she rolled over onto her stomach, and pushed herself up off the floor, followed by Vedette.

"Oh good! You're here! Have you... wait a minute, how did you find us?" Vedette questioned, narrowing one eye at them, and tapping her pursed lips with her left index finger.

"It was pretty easy. Everyone outside can hear both of your loud, annoying voices. Possibly could even hear it from two miles away." Kevin stated matter-of-factly, grinning at the two girls, who both flushed.

"Kevin, you're so... so... GAH! I don't know what to call you, but it's-" Vedette spluttered, dropping her arms to her sides and balling her fists when Kevin interrupted her.

"-irritating, you mean?" Kevin supplied, smirking once more. "You don't have to tell me, I know how you really feel..."

Vedette once more found her face flushing, but this time from a mixture of anger and very slight embarrassment. "Now listen here you! I would never fall for you, ONE, because you're a complete idiot, TWO, because I like Putnam, and THREE, because you're supposed to be with ERICA!"

After she was finished with her outburst, Denae snickered at the last line, Razi narrowed his eyes and scowled, and Kevin's face flushed crimson. "Kevin and Erica, sittin' in a tree..." Denae began singing, clasping her hands together and batting her eyelashes at her red-faced brother. "K-I-S-S-I-N-G!"

"Stop it!" Kevin exclaimed, his face reddening even more, and he stormed past Vedette and Denae, and out the door, hoping they would stop bugging him about his 'old' crush on Erica.

Much to his chagrin, Vedette and Denae came out, one arm around each other's shoulders, singing 'Kevin and Erica, sittin' in a tree' loudly.

Spinning around, and glaring around at the three - he just felt like glaring at everyone at the moment - he stated, "Why are you singing that!? Stop it! She and I can't do that yet, we haven't found her yet! Uh, I mean... er... we wouldn't even do it at all! I got over her a... LONG time ago!"

Vedette and Denae just smirked at him, and snickered under their breath, while Razi walked past Kevin, grumbling under his breath, Kevin catching only one sentence of it, "Let's just hope she's still alive..." immediately, Kevin's embarrassment switched to discouragement, and he hung his head, closing his eyes. 'Yeah... let's just... she can't be... don't listen to him, she can't be... dead...' he thought, and turned in the direction of their horses, trying his hardest to forget the possibility that Erica wasn't still among the living.

Kevin walked up to the horses, and looked up to see Razi sitting on a chocolate brown male horse with a couple large black spots, and black mane and tail. Razi was muttering to the horse, which he called Paard, and stroking it's mane. Turning back towards his own male horse, Fuilman, which was black with a silver mane and tail, Kevin walked to it's side, and pulled himself up. Vedette and Denae quietly walked up, and each climbed on their own female horses. Vedette's was a copper color with a black mane and tail, and named Fidelis. Denae's was white with a light brown shade of mane and tale, a few small dots sprinkled all over her, and named Giova, short for Giovane.

"So... what direction? Vedette found out that there's a ruin about a half an hour's ride on horseback from here. We think that might be it, but... we don't know in what direction." Denae declared, looking towards her brother, who blinked, and shrugged, turning Fuilman towards the North.

"Maybe that wa-" Kevin was quickly cut off by Razi.

"No. I heard from someone that they heard two cloaked figures taking about a ruin to the South of here. So, you're completely opposite to correct. Ha." Razi grinned at Kevin, who glared right back at him, turning Fuilman back towards the South. The rest turned their horses to the South, and off they went, towards the ruin - or, at least, where Razi's source said the ruin was.

As they rode, Kevin at the front, a voice began to float to his ears. And what it had to say, made him... blush. "Kevin and Erica, sittin' in a tree, K-I-S-S-I-N-G! First comes love, then comes marriage, then comes Kevin pushing a baby carriage!"

Turning his head towards his sister, who was now innocently playing with Giova's mane, and grinning much to widely to be innocent, he hissed, "Stop it. I'm OVER her. And she never liked me in the first place!" Denae just snorted at that, raising her eyes to look at him, raising an eyebrow with a sarcastic smile on her face.

"Riiiiiight, and that's why she blushed every time she saw you, became flustered around you, muttered about you in her sleep, wrote about you in her journal, and hung around you more than me? Yeah, that _must_ be it." she snorted again, snickering under her breath as Kevin's eyes widened abnormally, obviously in delight. 'Why are all the guys I know clueless idiots?' she wondered idly, smiling sugar-sweetly at her brother.

"Wh... wh-at?!" Kevin stuttered, making Denae want to roll her eyes and indicate that she thought her brother was a complete nutcase and idiot, but she stopped herself before she did and just smacked her forehead.

"Forget it, stupid." she rode past him, towards someone she caught a short glimpse of. "Hey! You!" she called to the person, who turned around, their shoulder length brown hair falling in their face as they looked up at Denae. "Who are you?" she asked, and the person - who was obviously female - blinked at her.

"Me?" she asked, her voice sounding high-pitched, like a child's, not fitting her thirty-year-old looks. "Um... Maike Hecate Ceridwen Alcippe Lockson, why?" she inquired, blinking once more at Denae, who looked at her quite strangely for giving her full name - and such a long full name, at that.

"Oh, um... I was just wondering what your name was, so I wouldn't have to call you 'you' when I asked if you knew where the ruin around here is. So, do you, Maike?" she asked, smiling politely at Maike, who at first looked confused, then seemed to register what the green haired teenager was asking. Making a slight 'oh!' sound, she looked around for a bit, her right fingertips covering her mouth.

"Um... I just came from there, actually... it's... well, it's not very far from here, in... that direction." she pointed towards the right, and the four young Drifters glanced in that direction. They all were a bit surprised to find that the ruin was only about a mile away. "Maison d'une Citation Élémentaire. That's the name of the ruin. It's said to house the most powerful thing in all of Filgaia. Even more so than the Guardians, I hear." she rambled on, catching all four's attention and dragging it away from the ruin itself.

"What!? More powerful than the Guardians? Rubbish!" Denae exclaimed, placing her hands on her hips and glaring daggers at Maike, who looked at her in startled interest. "That's just absurd! Plus, we've heard that it is a gemstone of some kind, not some kind of... power source."

"You mean, you haven't heard the story?" she murmured, her eyes large, and her right hand completely covering her mouth. The four all shook their heads, 'no'. Maike's eyebrows furrowed, and she lowered her hand, placing it on her hip, and tilting her head to the side. "Huh, I believe you're the first people I have seen that haven't heard of the Gemstone Subpoena. It's one of the more told children's stories around here. Except, most of the children don't know it's real. Most adults don't, either. Well, anyway, wanna know the story? I'll tell ya'. Several thousand years ago, the Shamans of Adlehyde and the Guardians decided to work together to make this beautiful, enormous gemstone with every one of the Guardians' elements in it. Whoever would invoke it, would get those powers, like a medium, but with all the powers.

"However, once they finished with this 'Gemstone Subpoena', news spread about it. It spread through gossipers who had heard straight from a spy that worked together with the Shamans and Guardians. The spy knew that the news would spread to everyone on Filgaia, and that included any demons. Including a certain Dream Demon named Nadya. Once she heard about it, she wanted it for her own. She wanted to claim it for her own, and went searching for it. She eventually found it, and stole it from the Shamans. And, to shorten the story somewhat, it took her forever, but she finally created it to fit her needs - wants, actually. She made it so that only pure demons could invoke it, or even touch it - anyone who wasn't pure demon that tried died a terrible death. And not to mention, she added a few extra forms and summons into the gemstone, as well.

"The Shamans, when they found out about this, were furious. They went and found her, and mutilated her, then took the gemstone - without touching it, of course - back to Adlehyde, to fix it. They tried, and tried, but they could only fix it very little. The only thing that they were able to change was the fact that whoever touched it that wasn't pure demon would die - now, they could have only a very, very slight bit of demon in them, and if the touched it, they wouldn't die. Because of the possibility that someone with no demon blood were to touch it, or anyone on the wrong side were to invoke it, they hid it away, in that very ruin. No one has found it, as of yet. Many, many have tried, no one has been successful. But, I've heard that there is some kind of prophecy or something about someone being half-demon finding and invoking the stone and being really powerful, powerful enough to stop some type of evil force or something around now. That's why I just came from there. I am a merchant, and with so many people going there, they need supplies, so that's a real hotspot. I was just going for more supplies, so, now, would you excuse me, I need to get to Little Twister." Maike finished, and walked past the four, towards the small town.

"Interesting story, but none of us are half-demon, so we can't be any of the right ones. Well, let's go, maybe Erica's there..." Kevin mumbled, continuing on, in the direction of Maison d'une Citation Élémentaire. The Denae and Vedette each exchanged a look, and continued behind their 'leader'. Razi, grumbling about Kevin and Erica, glaring at the back of Kevin's head.

It didn't take long for them to get to the ruin. As they approached it, they examined it's outside. It looked like any other ruin to them, except maybe a little cleaner. And taller even, maybe. The only thing that made this ruin look any different, was the fact that it was completely overrun with Drifters. After tying their horses to a pole next to the doorway, they walked in, and it was like a giant pillow smashed into them, there were so many people, and so many merchants, that it was almost impossible to breathe, let alone move.

"Oh geez, this is ridiculous..." Denae sighed, rolling her head backwards on her shoulders, covering her eyes with her right hand and shaking her head. 'What to do, what to do... hm... Ohh... I know!' she brought her head back up, and looked down at her pack, grinning. She opened the flap, and began to search through it.

"Um, Denae, what on Filgaia ARE you doing?" Vedette asked, looking over her friend's shoulder, raising a delicate auburn eyebrow.

"Searching."

"For what?"

"Something."

"Something?"

"Yes, something, now close your eyes, and tell my brother and Razi to do the same until I say to open them." Denae commanded, pulling out a small white gem from her pack. Vedette did as requested, and the four closed the eyes. Denae then brought her arm back, then brought it quickly forward and let the gem fly into the air, activating, and letting a extremely bright light engulf all of the ruin, momentarily blinding anyone who had their eyes open.

After a few moments, Denae chanced opening her eyes, and smiled when she saw that everyone that had had their eyes open were staring around in slight panic, obviously blinded, and the light was gone. "Ok, you can open your eyes now. And we can look around for anyone that looks like Erica." she stated, and began searching for Erica.

Vedette opened her eyes, and after blinking for a moment, began searching with Denae. "So... do you think she'll remember us?" Vedette asked casually, looking around for any female around fifteen, with black hair and violet eyes.

Denae turned someone with black hair around to face her, but, unfortunately, she had grey eyes. "Why do you ask that? Of course she will. Why wouldn't she?" she looked at Vedette with a strange look on her face - it looked like a mix between confusion and skepticism.

"Well, maybe she hit her head accidently, or, maybe someone erased her memory, or, maybe she forgot about us because she's been having a great life, or maybe she -" Vedette continued on her bombardment of suggestions, while Denae's concentration moved to her brother and Razi, who were making a contest out of finding Erica first. Rolling her eyes at their idiocy, and once more asking herself why she hung around with idiots, she realized that Vedette still wasn't done. "- or maybe she found someone to love and lives happily with him..."

"'Dette, she's only fifteen." Denae raised her eyebrow at the strange Enduro girl, who just grinned, shrugged, and continued to search for her niece. Denae brought her hand up to her right temple, and began to rub it in a circular motion. "... why, why did I say yes to join their team? WHY?" she mused to herself, looking around the group of people once more, when suddenly, a familiar voice that she hadn't heard in four years, reached her ears.

"Come on, now's our chance! We've got to take it now, Jacqui, or we'll never be able to have a chance to find the gemstone this century, and by then, someone else will have gotten to it!" the young, female voice hissed, to her right, and she turned in that direction, to see a black-hooded and cloaked figure pulling another hooded and cloaked figure in the direction of the opening at the back of the ruin. 'Could that be...?' Denae wondered, her eyes wide, as she took a few silent steps towards the two figures. "Come ON Jacqui!" the voice groaned, trying to get the taller hooded figure to walk faster, not so casually.

"I am coming, Erica. I don't think anyone will become among the seeing again too soon, we don't have much to worry about." the other hooded figure's silky voice floated to Denae's ears, and upon hearing the name, her eyes lit up, and she ran to get the others.

"I can't believe it - Vedette! Kevin! Razi! You GUYS! It's Erica! I-I've found her!" she stuttered, grinning like a maniac and grabbing each by the arm, then dragging in the direction Erica and the other hooded figure, Jacqui, went off in.

Behind them, unnoticed by everyone else, another cloaked figure following them, pulling it's hood tight around it's face.

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PianZoe: Ok, there's something about this chapter that you should know. Part of it is important to future fan-fics, I'll let you figure which part out on your own. And the next chapter will probably be out sooner than this one, because CiaHottie is writing it, and she's _much_ faster than me in writing.


	7. Lost and Found

PianZoe: WE ARE ALIVE!!

CiaHottie: .......Yes, I think they know that now...

PianZoe: [raises eyebrow] No duh, that was my POINT.

CiaHottie: And your point is?

PianZoe: [snicker] I have no point.

CiaHottie: Uhmm... Well then, we best be getting on with the story, riiight? Gooood....

PianZoe: ... Erm... something doesn't seem right... oh yeah! We don't OWN Jet, Virginia, Clive, Catherine, Gallows, Becky, Filgaia, or any of the original characters and stuff. We just own... er... everything ELSE! Right?

CiaHottie: [smacks myself] Riiiiight...[collapses because of the high pressure _dens_ity]

PianZoe: Well, readers, read on, if you dare. If you don't, we'll track you down and force you to... do something unpleasant. We'll do something _drastic_. [smiles innocently]

CiaHottie: Can we plllllease start now? THANK YOU....

PianZoe: [glare] Fiiiine, bossy person.

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If it were a race, Razi would have won two medals.

Kevin, though, was catching up rather quickly, while the two girls lagged behind. Cursing under his breath, Kevin tried speeding up, glaring holes into the back of his rival's head. "SLOW DOWN!!" he shouted, growling when Razi turned around and blew him a raspberry. "Oh, that's REALLY mature, Razi!" he rolled his eyes, and tried to think of some kind of good retort to Razi's raspberry.

... so, he proceeded to do likewise in Razi's direction.

Razi just smirked, made a face at him, turned back around, and continued running, even faster than before if that was even possible. But, Kevin was determined, so, he tried pushing himself even faster.

Denae and Vedette, who were witnessing this whole childish scene, were wondering if those boys ever grew up, at _all_. Or, would ever grow up, for that matter.

They closely followed who they figured was Erica, and her companion, Jacqui, into the dark of the next room. And, dark was nearly an understatement. "Erm... which way, Jacqui?" they heard Erica's voice up ahead whispering to Jacqui, then it was followed by footsteps.

After a few moments, a small, dim light appeared towards the right of where the group of four stood, and next to the light, silhouetted by the light, stood the two who had came in first, now with their hoods down. As the two female Drifters walked into the light - a doorway, evidently - Kevin and Razi got a good look at what one of the figures looked like. Black hair, lightly pale skin, pretty features. Almost as soon as the two were out of hearing range, but not out of sight, the team of four ran after them.

Walking into the light, they saw that it was a large room, with strange words that none of them could understand written into the walls. Jacqui and Erica stood in the middle, facing them, with a fierce glint in their eyes. Now they could see the two quite well since they were all in the light. The one called Jacqui had short blue hair in a some-up some-down hairdo, and lime green eyes. The other one, once they all saw her, they knew immediately, they were all correct - long black hair, beautiful lavender eyes.

"Well, well, looky here. Four young Drifters, following us to find the Gemstone Subpoena as well? Tsk, tsk, too bad they won't make it." Jacqui drawled, taking a modified bayonet from behind her back. Erica then pulled two ARMs from holsters around her waist that, although a type of twin pistols, looked menacing. "The last thing you four'll see is my bayonet, and Erica here's Cauchemar A3 and Marteling TI52, and us, smirking at our easy win." she continued, her mouth curving upwards in an evil smirk.

Vedette frowned at Erica, a hurt look on her face, but then felt a searing pain in her shoulder, "Ah!" she looked down, and found a tiny hole in there. She looked back at Erica, and found that she was pointing one of her ARMs at her. She looked behind herself, and found that the others had all taken out their weapons, and were pointing them at Erica and Jacqui, so she did so, too. Erica snickered, "Oh look, Jacqui, the little kiddies wanna play!"

Jacqui smirked, and immediately rushed at Razi, thrusting her bayonet at his upper chest, and causing a large gash to appear. He yelled, and shot at her with his ARMs, but missed by a long shot due to the pain. Denae growled, and shot several times at Jacqui, hitting her in the right shoulder three times, and once in the leg. Jacqui screamed in rage, jumping up as well as she could, and bringing her bayonet down on Denae, who jumped out of the way, but not soon enough to avoid getting injured.

Vedette was kind of frozen, until Kevin shoved her to the side, catching a bullet in his arm. Erica was enraged that her bullet had missed target, and immediately began sending a spray of bullets at Kevin and Vedette, which they dodged most of, but caught a few. Kevin grabbed his ARM, which he had dropped when he pushed Vedette out of harm's way, and shot a few times at Jacqui, then once, reluctantly, at Erica.

Erica shot strait back at him, after catching the bullet in the side, and then shouted to Jacqui to help her out. Jacqui groaned, and shook her head, trying to dodge the many bullets being sent her way from Denae and Razi. Erica groaned, and shoot several times back at Vedette and Kevin, who just wouldn't stop shooting at her. Soon she ran out of ammo, and quickly rummaged in her pack for a reload. She didn't have any left. "Shit!" she growled, "Jacqui, I need a reload!"

Jacqui looked worried, "I..don't have one! I'm almost out, too!" Now Erica was worried. She dodgeda few bullets, and then sent her last three at Vedette, who was less damaged than Kevin.

She threw down her gun, and ran behind a large pile of debris, hoping they wouldn't notice she had disappeared, as they looked for heal berries. Jacqui ran out of ammo a moment later also, and quickly fled the scene, yelling, "You may have won this time, but it was only because we were outnumbered!" as she went.

Erica was REALLY worried now. Jacqui had left without her! What was she going to DO?!? "Erica! Come out from there!" she heard the pretty, auburn-haired girl's voice say. She timidly moved out from behind the pile, and put her hands in front of herself in a defensive gesture.

Kevin stepped forward, "E-Erica?… Is that _you_? It's me, Kevin!" She stared blankly at him. Kevin frowned, "You..don't remember me? I'm Kevin, Kevin Lorelei." Erica shook her head, and replied, "No, I don't know who you are. " She raised an eyebrow at him, "All I know is that my name is Erica, and that I am fifteen years old. That's it."

"So, you lost your memory?" Razi asked, trying to make some sense of what was happening. Erica nodded, "Uh huh." Vedette walked over to her, and realized that Erica was now much taller than herself. She looked up at her cousin/niece, "I'm Vedette Kaya Enduro. I'm your Mom's sister. We were born on the exact same day. Nice to meet you." She shook Erica's hand, and smiled at her.

Erica timidly smiled back, and then looked at Denae, who walked over to her, and also shook her hand, "Denae Lorelei. I'm Kevin's annoying little sister. Remember?" Erica thought for a moment, and then shook her head. Denae sighed, and motioned to Razi to introduce himself. He walked over to Erica, slightly faster than the others had done, and said, "I'm Razi Carradine. You know? Gallow's and Becky Carradine's son?"

Erica looked at the ground, shaking her head once more.

Vedette then suggested, "Maybe she'll begin to remember things when she sees her parents again, you guys!! Come on, let's head to Boot Hill!" Erica's face lit up, "My..parents? Who are they? What are their names? What's my second name? Please, tell me!!" All of them were slightly surprised at this outburst, but then Kevin grinned, and answered her, " Your parents are Georgia and Anthony. Your second name is Bernadette." He grinned, "Well then, let's get going. I'm sure that Georgia and Anthony will be _overjoyed _ to see you, Erica!!" Then he added under his breath, "I know I am.."

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A little bit later they reached the exit, and were about to leave when- "Oof!" Erica stumbled into a slightly-shorter-than-herself, hooded, cloaked figure, causing then both to fall over. "Hey, watch where you're going, you asshole!" Erica shouted, getting astonished looks from her newly found teammates.

The figure groaned, and sat up, the hood falling from their head to reveal lovely red hair in ringlets, and the most vibrant emerald eyes. Erica scowled at her, but then frowned, "Wait a minute.. I remember you.. You're.. You're that lady's daughter, aren't you? That lady named.. Aiko." The girl's eyes widened, and she nodded.

"Umm.. Yes. I'm Aiko's daughter. I'm.. Anna. Ana Lenial, nice to meet you. And you are?" She held her hand out to Erica, who took it, "Erica Bernadette." Anna grinned, and stood, offering her hand to Erica to help her up, also. Erica grabbed it, and Anna pulled her to her feet. Vedette then confronted Anna, "I'm Erica's Aunt, Vedette Enduro. Would you like to join our team? I take it that you are a Drifter." Anna raised an eyebrow; "Boy do you get right to the point. Sure, Vedette, I'll join your team, because you are right in thinking I am a Drifter."

The others introduced themselves to Anna, and they told her where they were headed, and why. Soon after they began on their way to Boot Hill.

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"Hff..'Dette..hff…Are we almost..hff.. there yet?" A panting Razi asked the auburn-haired girl leading them towards Boot Hill. She groaned, "Razi, we'll probably get there sometime in the morning. Don't worry, though. We'll stop and make camp once we find a nice spot."

It was beginning to get dark, and they had been riding for several hours. Well, all except Razi, that is. He had given up his horse to Anna, so he had been walking the whole time. Soon they found a nice spot, with a large, flat rock they could sleep on, then they all set out their sleeping bags, and went to bed.

The next morning Erica was the first one awake, so she began cooking a small breakfast of eggs, bread, and bacon. Soon the others woke, partially because of the smell of cooking food, and they all ate. After packing up the cooking utensils and sleeping bags they set off, and Vedette calculated it would be only an hour or two till they reached Boot Hill, causing Erica to become very, very excited, and ride ahead of the others.

They rode, and rode, and rode, till it was only a half hour till they reached their destination. They only came upon a few fiends, and dealt with them easily, so the ride hadn't been very hard. The only thing making it slightly difficult was, to no one's surprise, Razi.

"Are we almost THERE?" Erica groaned, and Vedette answered, "Yes, Razi.. Only a little longer.." She shook her head in frustration. A moment later Razi piped up again, "Are we there YET?" This time Erica answered, "If we were THERE, wouldn't we be in the town right now? Just SHUT UP!" She growled, and rode a little farther ahed, making sure she was a good distance from Razi, who was acting very.. strange toward her. All.. protective, and loving..

Kevin had been glaring at him almost the whole time, and Erica would have also, but she needed to concentrate on riding, not glaring. Ten more minutes passed before- "Are we there NOW?" Erica growled, "NO!!!" then scowled at Razi, just as they rode over a small hill.

Vedette pointed to a town not half a mile ahead, "Look! Boot Hill!" Erica's attention snapped to the town, and she kicked her horse's sides, speeding up to a run. The others did the same, but none were going as fast as Erica. She was very, very excited. She was going to meet her parents!

They reached the entrance to the town in a few minutes, and sped through, Vedette now leading them to the Bernadette residence, Erica trailing not far behind. Soon they came to a large, green house, with a few, small plants growing in front of it. Vedette pulled her horse to a stop, and the other followed suit. They dismounted, and Vedette grabbed Erica's hand, pulling her to the front door, and getting dust all over Erica's cloak which she still had not taken off.

"GEORGIA! ANTHONY! OPEN UP!" Vedette screamed, and they heard footsteps approaching the door from the inside. Soon the door opened, and a pair of emerald eyes peered out, "Oh, Vedette! Come in, come in!" She shooed them inside, not noticing the two new team members.

Once they were all inside, Georgia looked them over, and then came to the two cloaked females. Erica had pulled her hood up , so you could not see her face, and was slightly timid when Georgia asked, "And who are you two?" Anna smiled at her, "I'm Anna Lenial. Nice to meetcha, Mrs. Bernadette."

Georgia grinned at her, then turned to the other new addition to the teen Drifter's team, "And you?" she asked, watching as the figure turned their back to her, and lowered their hood to reveal long, silky, black hair that billowed down to their waste. Then, they turned around, and Georgia gasped.

Erica looked hopefully at her mother, "Mom?" Georgia stared at her daughter, tears leaking from her eyes, "E-Erica? Erica, is that really you?" Erica nodded, and Georgia lunged at her, grabbing her in a very tight, very loving hug. "Oh, Erica! We thought you might be dead! Where have you been?!?" Vedette walked over to Georgia, and pulled her away from the long-lost daughter.

"Georgia, she has amnesia, she doesn't remember what happened."

Georgia frowned, "Nothing?" she said, turning to her daughter. Erica nodded, "I remember simple things, like reading, writing, what words mean, but not anything about myself, you, or dad. Well, actually, I kinda remember what he looks like.. but that's all." She looked at the floor, and sighed.

Georgia nodded, "Well, I'm sure you'll remember everything with time.. I have to go find your father! I'll be just a moment!" With that, she rushed into the hall, then out through a back door. The teenagers all sat down at the kitchen table, waiting for her to return, which she did a moment later, with a black-haired man trailing right behind her.

The man screeched to a halt when he reached the table, and searched the faces for his daughter. She was sitting at the very end. He ran over to her, grabbed her, and hugged her ferociously, "Erica!" Erica grinned, hugging her father back. "Hi, Dad." He beamed at her, sitting down beside her, and beginning a conversation about where she had been the past four years, and what she had done.

After a few minutes of speaking a small voice broke the conversation. "Mom? Who's that thitting by Daddy?" Erica turned and saw a tiny little boy with jet-black hair, and emerald eyes, just like Georgia's. Anthony picked the small boy up, and put him on his lap, "Edan, this is Erica. She's your sister." Erica and Edan's eyes widened, and they stared at eachother.

"You're my thithter?" Erica looked at Georgia, who grinned, and then nodded. Edan beamed at her, and jumped off his Father's lap, ran over to her, and gave her a big, cuddly hug. Erica grinned, her eyes leaking, "I have a brother!"

Edan grinned, "I'm this many!" He held up all ten fingers, and Erica giggled, wiping her eyes, then Georgia said, "He's almost four." laughing softly.

Anthony and Georgia walked over to Erica and Edan, and they all shared one big group hug, laughing as they did so. All the other teenagers just watched, as if this were some very, very touching movie. Razi even began sniffling.

The four pulled apart, and Georgia proposed, "How about I make us some lunch! Erica, why don't you take that filthy cloak off?" Erica nodded, and uplled of her cloak to reveal black, leather tube top, and a black leather mini skirt. Razi and Kevin both stared at her.. Rather nice figure.

Erica frowned at them, "Maybe I should have left the cloak on.." Kevin's face flushed, and he looked away, but Razi just kept right on staring, causing Erica to snicker.

Man, but who wouldn't stare? She had one nice body, and you couldn't deny it.

Soon lunch was ready, and they all began talking, eating, laughing, and just plain having a wonderful time.

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	8. Kidnap Erica Day

PianZoe: [monotone] Okay, so, we've returned. Whoohoo for us and you, the readers.

CiaHottie: [raises an eyebrow at PZ] Something is wrong with you.

PianZoe: [sarcasm] Oh, no, I never would have guessed.

CiaHottie: And it is...?

PianZoe: [scoff] I don't own anything.

CiaHottie: ô.ó Uh, yes, you do. You own... let's see... you own Razi-

PianZoe: [snort] WONDERFUL... [rolls eyes]

CiaHottie: Uh HUM, as I was saying, you own Razi, Edan, Vedette, Denae, uh... Aiko, Anthony, several others...

PianZoe: [snort again] I'm in a pessimistic mode and you're not helping!!

CiaHottie: [sighs and slaps hand over face] I thought I was helping you get out of your pessimistic state?

PianZoe: Oh. Well, stop it! Anyway, we own everything but the original characters, and the planet, and most of the towns.

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At dinner, they were having pleasant conversation.

"So... who was that Jacqui person you were with?" Denae asked, before taking a bite of mashed potatoes. Erica, who had a rather large mouthful, looked at her, then held up her index finger to indicate 'just a second'.

Swallowing her mouthful, Erica told Denae, "Her full name is Jacqui Cascade." and before she could continue, she heard her parents gasp, and when she looked at them, she saw looks of complete horror on both their faces.

"Ca... Cas... Cascade?!" Georgia squeaked, her eyes wide and her right hand covering her mouth. "You were... were with a _Cascade_? I think I am going to have a heart attack... this is impossible! Did she kidnap you!?" she sat up as straight as her back would let her, narrowed her eyes, brought her hand away from her mouth, and balled her hands into fists. "Because if she did, ooooo, I am so going to find her and beat her little fu-"

"Mom!" Erica laughed, shaking her head, all the motions done slightly nervously, and held up her hands in front of her face. "No, she didn't kidnap me. I went with her, willingly." she looked into her Mom's eyes, to see shock flit across in them - not to mention something else, that looked... wrathful. 'I hope that doesn't mean she's so angry with me she'll kill me. I mean, I have survived so many things while with Jacqui, then I finally find home and my own Mother kills me? Kinda ironic, isn't it.' she thought dully.

"W... willingly...? My own daughter... went with a... a _Cascade_ willingly? This can't be the right girl... she can't be my daughter... I told her about the Cascades... she should have known..." Georgia muttered, gripping the arms of her chair. "It couldn't be her... no... Erica... she can't be... she wouldn't... Jacqui Cascade and... and... no... she's not a..."

Anthony gripped Georgia's arm, making her look into his eyes, and a tear run down her cheek. He wiped the tear away, and shook his head. "I'm afraid, it's true, Georgia... it is her... and if she has been hanging around with Jacqui Cascade, it must be her..." he murmured, and Georgia sobbed loudly, flinging her arms around him and burying her face in his shirt.

"Georgia? Anthony? What are you talking about?" Denae asked, hearing what Anthony murmured to Georgia because of sitting the nearest to them. Anthony looked to her, looked around the table, then tapped Georgia on the back, and whispered something in her ear. She nodded her head, pulled away from him, stood up, then walked into another room quickly. Anthony then stood up, and glanced around at all of them.

"Would Denae, Kevin, Razi, and Vedette, please follow me in to the living room. If you wish to join us, Anna, you may, but I would really rather you didn't." with that said, he turned, and stalked into the living room, the four he asked to join he and Georgia following closely behind.

Erica, who seemed very baffled for the behavior of her parents, stared at the doorway to the livingroom. "What did I do?" she grumbled, scowling and slamming her hand down onto the table. "Damnit!"

Edan looked up at his sister, and frowned, crossing his arms. "Mommy thayth that word ith bad. Only bad people thay it." he scolded, and Erica looked down at him, still scowling, and growled.

"Not only bad people say it, Edan." she said, looking at Anna, who was looking right at her, with her eyes narrowed. "What is it, Lenial?"

"Nothing."

Suddenly, a loud, piercing shriek rang throughout the house. "WHAAAAAAAAAAAAAT!?!?!"

Right after the shriek, Denae burst out through the door, running, tears streaming down her face, and rammed into Erica, knocking her off her chair, making her land on the hard wood floor. "I HATE YOU!" Denae plopped down beside Erica, and put her hands around her neck. "I HATE YOU, I HATE YOU, I HATE YOU!!"

Kevin rushed out behind her, gasped when he saw Denae attempting to strangle Erica, ran up behind her, and tried to pull Denae off of Erica, who was now struggling for air. "Denae, what she did was wrong, but don't kill her! Please don't kill her!" he exclaimed, finally managing to get the hysterically sobbing Denae off of Erica.

"B-b-but she ki-ki-killed the-the-them!!" Denae cried, kicking out her foot, which hit Erica directly in the face. As soon as Denae's foot connected with her face, Erica cried out, tears coming to her eyes, and clutched her nose. "Se-serves y-y-you ri-right, yo-you m-mu-mur-murderer!!"

Anna suddenly jumped to her feet, her eyes wide, her chair falling down behind her. 'Oh my GOSH, I know why she looks so familiar! I have been searching for her! Erica! I can't believe it, she was just delivered right into my hands!' she grinned down at Erica, clasping her hands together.

All the others rushed out of the livingroom, to see Kevin still trying to hold Denae back, because she was still trying to kill Erica, Erica lying on the floor, curled up, holding her nose, and crying quietly, and Anna standing up, grinning down at Erica. Razi was appalled to see Erica hurt, so he rushed forward, and knelt beside her. "What's the matter? Is it your nose?" he asked, sounding as concerned as possible, and tried prying her hands away from her face.

"OWWW!!" Erica cried out when Razi tried to rip her hands away from her face. "_Razi you idiot!!_" she shrieked, covering her broken nose with her hands again, and kicking at him, hitting him in the stomach.

He grabbed his stomach, and backed away from the angered girl, wincing as he did so. Little did he know, Kevin nearly let go of Denae to do a victory dance, but instead just grinned happily, and sung a victory song in his head.

Anna, while everyone else was busy trying to either help Erica, or restrain Denae, snuck unnoticed out of the room, then out the front door, to Razi's horse, where she had left her stuff (why? She didn't know, she just felt like leaving it there). When she reached the horse, she glanced in each direction, opening her Rat Monkey skin bag, and peering into it. "Okay, let's see..." she muttered as she reached in, her tongue sticking out the side of her mouth, her hand digging around in the medium sized bag. "Huh... violet flower... heat salve... heal berry... heal berry... grab bag... clothes... book... book... tiny hammer... ambrosia... gems... aha! Light gems'll work!" she exclaimed, taking the gems out of her bag, but scowling at seeing that they were just ice gems. Reaching back in, she felt more gems, and when she pulled them out, she grinned in success.

Just as she was about to head back in, she heard a loud round of curses come from inside; it sounded very much like Erica's voice, too. Quickly, she grabbed a rope out of her bag (_Why didn't I feel that when I was looking for the gems?_ she thought, with a roll of her eyes), and rushed back into the house - carefully, though, so as to not draw attention to herself. Although, that would be pretty difficult, she realized as she looked around the room.

Denae was still trying to murder Erica, Erica was lying on the ground, guarding her broken, bleeding nose from harm, Kevin, Georgia, Anthony, and Vedette were holding Denae back, so she couldn't get to Erica, Razi was just standing there, trying to figure out how to help Erica, and Edan was standing next to Razi, also trying to figure out how to help his older sister.

_This is going to be almost **too** easy._ Anna thought with a snort, as she readied herself to throw the light gems so that only the others would get momentarily blinded, not herself. Her hand slipped over her eyes, as she tossed the gems, and they lit up. Hearing startled screams confirmed it to her that the lights had been, in fact, successful, so she turned around, opening her eyes just a crack, and began searching for Erica.

"She was on the floor..." she whispered to herself, searching the ground where she had last seen Erica, her face contorted in concentration.

"DAMNIT! _I can't see anything!_" Erica's irked voice came from practically right next to Anna, making her grin in triumph, and reach out in Erica's direction. "What the-!!" her surprised voice was cut off, as Anna covered her mouth, hissing a threat into her ear. Erica nodded her understanding of her 'command', and Anna removed her head, grabbing both ends of the rope, and Erica's hands, tying the rope around her wrists.

"Okay, Erica, now, just don't make a single sound that would alert your family, and you'll be just fine. Stand up, now." Anna whispered, standing up, and pulling Erica up with her. Erica just nodded again, making Anna grin, and begin pulling her towards the door.

Once they were out in the natural daylight, the temporary blindness Erica was experiencing began to dissipate. Anna let go of her, walking up to the horses and untying Paard and Erica's horse, then turning back to Erica, who gasped upon seeing her face. "Anna?! What...? I thought you... but... what are you doing!?" Erica exclaimed, her face reflecting the shock that Anna was 'kidnaping her'.

Anna just shrugged, and gave her a somewhat apologetic look. "I'm sorry, Erica, but, you're wanted, and I need the money." she began to pull the hood of her cloak up over her head again, when she heard someone leave the house, and gasp, making her turn around, to find Anthony standing just outside the doorway, staring at her and Erica. "Erica, get on your horse, now, or I am not going to heal your nose." she ordered, scowling, and pushing Erica towards her horse, as Anthony began running towards them, shouting for them to stop.

"But, my hands are-" Erica began, but stopped, when she felt Anna cut the ropes away from her wrists, and push her against her horse.

"Hurry, hurry! Get on your stupid horse, right now! _Hurry!!_" Anna exclaimed, pulling her ARM - Goldshiemer PSA115 - out from under her cloak, and aiming it at Anthony, a fierce look on her face. "One step closer, Mr. Bernadette, and you'll regret it!" _Please, please don't come any closer... I don't want to have to shoot you..._ she mentally pleaded, hoping Anthony would somehow hear her. Unfortunately, he didn't, and he only stopped for a moment, before scowling, aiming his bionic arm at Anna's ARM, walking a few feet closer, and letting the wire fist shoot out at the Goldshiemer.

Anna, upon seeing the fact that he hadn't heeded her warning, took a large gulp, and pulled the trigger - at the same time Anthony let his fist fly. The bullet was way off course, but the fist hit it's target, causing the Goldshiemer to fly off to the side. "NO!" Anna exclaimed, staring at her ARM, then turning her gaze to the ever approaching Anthony. With a sharp inhale, she jumped up onto Razi's horse, her face contorted in a frown, and turned to the South.

Kicking the horse's sides, Anna glanced around for Erica. With a start, she realized that in the short time between when she had cut Erica's binds and when she had gotten onto Paard, Erica had taken off on her horse. "Damnit, Erica, you weren't supposed to LEAVE!" she shouted, as she galloped off toward the South.

No one noticed that Erica had just galloped behind the house, in hopes to get away from the crazy treasure hunter, Anna Lenial. _Pff, what a stupid alias. _(A/n: That's the right word, right?) _I don't understand why she doesn't just use her real name. Anastasia Eleniak sounds a whole lot better than 'Anna Lenial'..._ Erica thought, with a roll of her eyes, as she looked around the edge of the house, to see if Anna was gone yet.

When she saw Anna ride off, she began to head back around to the front of the house, but was grabbed suddenly from behind, a hand wrapping around her mouth, none too gently. "Mmmhmmfmfffhmmhm!" she tried to scream, because of the pain shooting from her nose, and from the shock whoever it was that grabbed her gave her.

"Shh, brat, it's me. Jacqui." Jacqui's voice hissed into her ear, as the hand escaped from her mouth.

"Jacqui? What are you doing here? I thought you left when you abandoned me at Maison d'une Citation Élémentaire! Get away from me!" Erica snarled, trying to escape from Jacqui's grip around her shoulders.

"Ah, ah, ah, I don't think so. You're my moneymaker. You think I'll let you go? I don't think so. You're coming with me, whether you do it of your own free will, or I have to force you."

Erica continued to struggle, but it was a losing fight. Sighing, she gave up. _Great. This must be 'kidnap Erica day' and I wasn't informed of the festivities..._

..............,,,,,,,,,,,,,,...............

PianZoe: You can really tell I wrote this chapter, because it sucks... very, very, very badly... I wish it hadn't been my turn... it's too short, and it sucks! AHH!


	9. You could have DIED!

"Erm.. Jacqui? You don't happen to have a heal berry, do you? 'Cause, as you can see, my nose is broken.." They had been riding for only a few moments, and Erica's nose was bleeding like mad, leaving a trail of blood down her clothes. Jacqui growled, rummaging in her pack for afore mentioned item, and soon found it. She tossed it to Erica, and sped up her horse.

Erica sighed, eating the berry and feeling her nose repair itself. Why was everything happening to her?! She still didn't know why Denae had attempted to dig her an early grave. What had she done to deserve this! It's all so unfair, she thought.

She knew very well where Jacqui was leading her. They were heading towards their hideout, an old, broken down house near Quartly. It was one of the only buildings around there. It looked as though people had once lived there, as if it had been a small town. She wondered, if in the future, it might once more be lived in. Not as a hideout, but as a town again.

They rode on for quite a while longer, and soon the sun began to go down. Erica was still thinking. She thought of her home, Kevin, her family, Kevin, how annoying Razi had been, and Kevin. For some reason she had recognized him on first sight, while she hadn't recognized any of the others. She also faintly remembered a half-demon and her pure-demon mother, and that she had fought them with her family. She didn't know how she could remember things such as these, and not her family, but she did.

She took her mind of those several subjects, and instead began to formulate a plan of escape. She was _not _going to let her former friend keep her captive. She had just found her family, and she damn well was going to stay with them! She hesitated as she thought this, not sure whether she _really_ wanted to go back. Denae could put a bullet through her head at any moment.

She smiled slightly at this thought. Denae sure had a temper.

And once again, she began to wonder whom she had killed that had made her new friend hate her so badly. Must have been a relative, or a good friend, maybe? Well, whoever it was, they must have been close.

Another hour passed, and soon Erica could see the faint outline of the large hideout they had lived in for several years, and thought of all the times she and Jacqui had spent together.

There never really had been any happy moments with her former parental figure, but still, Jacqui _had _taken care of her. She could still remember the day when Jacqui had told her that she could be a great Drifter. She had been so excited about it back then.

They reached the hideout in mere moments, and Jacqui dismounted, helped Erica off her horse, and then shoved her towards the entrance to the run-down old house. She obedientely went inside, and found the old place just as it had been last time she was there. Dirty, moldy, and smelly.

She sat down on a big ol' pillow, " So, Jacqui, why on _earth_ did you bring me back here! Make your own money for a change! I've just found my family, and I want to live with _them_! I thought you'd be glad to be rid of me." Jacqui chuckled at this statement, "Glad? Why would I be glad to do work _myself_! Silly girl. You're staying here, get used to it." With that, she locked the door, stuck the key in her pocket, and went upstairs, where she slept.

Erica sighed, stood up, and began pacing the room. How to escape, she asked herself. She could always blast the door open, but Jacqui would hear her if she did that. She could wait until morning, and hope that Jacqui went out, and forgot to lock the door. Naw, she thought, Jacqui would never forget to lock the door. Especially if her 'moneymaker' was at stake.

She soon found herself getting drowsy, and satdown once more. There she spent the rest of the night, trying to find some plan of escape in the far corners of her mind.

…….,,,,,,,…….

Knock. Knock. Knock.

Erica rolled over, covering her head with her arms, not realizing that someone was at the door.

Knock. Knock. Knock.

She opened one eye, and stared at the door, considering getting up to answer it. Then she remembered the previous night, and how Jacqui had locked it. She sat there a moment longer, and was about to go get Jacqui to tell her that someone was at the door when she heard, "ERICA! ARE-YOU-IN-THERE--!" She recognized the voice immediately, and replied, "KEVIN?!"

Erica jumped to her feet, picked up her ARMs, and yelled, "Get back, Kev! I'm blasting the door open!" She heard the sound of his footsteps moving away, and then pulled the trigger on both her weapons. A loud blast, followed by several others, echoed all around her.

A moment later she stopped shooting, and walked over to the door. She took a large breath, and sent her foot straight at the door. It made contact, and with a loud 'CRACK!' the whole door fell forward.

She ran out of the entrance, and found Kevin standing there, ARM in hand. At the sight of her he ran forward, and caught her in a large, dusty, sweaty hug. Erica laughed, and pulled away, "How did you find me, Kevin?!" He grinned, and blushed, " I, uh.. Well, I..erm.. Followed you? "

Erica scowled at him, and placed her hands on her hips, in a stern way (_She's going to make a good mother… _Kevin thought, although, not realizing he had thought it). "Kevin! That was really dangerous! Although, I am glad you saved me, why didn't you at least bring someone with you?! Do you know what kind of monsters are over here?! You could have _DIED!!_ Thank you all the same, but next time I am kidnaped, _think before you rescue me!!"_

Kevin looked like he had just seen the most horrific sight in all of Filgaia. His eyes were wide, and his mouth hung open. He stood there, frozen, and Erica continued scowling at him. A minute later Erica said, "WELL!?" Kevin backed away, and Erica moved forward. She gave him an irritated look, and he finally said, "Well.. Er, yeah.. I..won't do it again, Erica.. Just please, don't kill me?"

Erica smiled, going back into best friend mode, "Well, thank you for rescuing me, Kevin." She grinned, acting as if she hadn't just nearly ripped his head off. Kevin smiled back, though unneasily. Erica started to step closer, and Kevin got a little uncomfortable.

Erica grinned mischievously, and advanced even further, till her face was right next to his. Kevin gulped. Finally Erica made the move, and their lips were about to make contact when-"ERICA!!!" a roar came from behind them, and Erica and Kevin wheeled around, completely forgetting what they had just been about to do.

Jacqui came storming towards them, bayonet held at the ready, "Erica, you get your ass back in that house! I'll take care of your little _boyfriend…_" Erica scowled at her, and aimed her ARMs at the 21-year-old before her. "I'm not going back into that old cage. I'm going _home_ with Kevin. I don't care if we have to fight you to be able to do so."

Kevin's eyes were wide, "W-we?" Erica glared at him, and he suddenly spouted out, "Yeah! We're going to… Fight you! Yep." He nodded, an unneasy and artificially confident smile on his face. Erica grinned at him, and nodded.

Jacqui had an appalled look on her face, "You mean that you two _wimps_ think yourselves worthy of fighting _me_?" She let out a loud bark-like laugh. Erica growled, and pulled the trigger on the ARM in her right hand, sending a bullet whizzing into Jacqui shoulder.

The astonished look on Jacqui's face told that she had not expected Erica to attack so soon. She quickly lunged toward the younger girl, attempting to slice her chest, but missed, because the bullet in her right shoulder caused her to drop her weapon.

Erica smiled triumphantly, but wasn't like that for long, as Jacqui picked her weapon back up off the ground, and instead, with her left arm, swung it at Kevin. Kevin wasn't ready for this sudden attack, and got caught in the lower left arm by the sparkling blade.

He cried out in pain, and Erica shot at Jacqui again, this time hitting her in the left shoulder, making it impossible for her to lift the bayonet. Jacqui let out a cry of rage, and shot off in the other direction, mounting her horse, and fleeing.

Erica grinned at Kevin, and ran into the house, soon coming back out with Jacqui's pack. She opened it, grabbed a heal berry, and gave it to Kevin, who gobbled it up immediately. His arm was healed, they had made Jacqui look like a fool, and Erica was acting friendly. What a wonderful day!

…….,,,,,,,…….

"MOM! DAD!" Erica yelled, as they came upon the Bernadette residence.

Georgia and Anthony came bursting out the front door, and ran up to their daughter and [basically] nephew. Georgia was crying her eyes out, and as Erica climbed down from her horse, she was immediately caught in the most cuddly bear hug she could remember.

"Mom, Dad.. you're choking me." They released her, and instead hugged Kevin. "You saved her!" Georgia sobbed into his coat, and Kevin unneasily patted his [basically] aunt's back.

Anthony stood tall, as usual, and suddenly asked, "But.. Erica, where's Edan? He followed Kevin, and.." He left it at that, and Erica's eyes widened, "D-dad.. Edan? We never saw him.. Did we, Kev?" Kevin shook his head. Georgia began to sob once more, and Erica got close.

…….,,,,,,,…….

CiaHottie: [in tears] Wasn't this chapter so _touching_?

PianZoe: Erm… except for the whole, 'You could have DIED' part… and the fight scene…

CiaHottie: ..Well, yeah. Wasn't Erica just so _sweet_ towards her rescuer? [dramatic sigh]

PianZoe: Eh heh… as sweet as a lemon… next chapter will be up soon! (Or, atleast, it should be… [glares at self])

CiaHottie: Well, until next time: Eat lots of candy, and go to the bathroom seven times a day! And don't forget to watch _plenty_ of movies instead of doing your homework! [if you have any!] Ja ne.

Disclaimer: YES! I own WA3. THAT is the reason I sit at my computer all day, wishing I owned it, and writing WA fanfiction. Uh huh. [nods]


	10. Human Children Are KawaiiiiiI Mean, Anno...

While Georgia, Anthony, Erica, and Kevin (Razi and Vedette were inside, watching Denae) went out to search for Edan, the little boy in question was beginning to think that he wasn't going to find his sister. He had now wandered for who knows long, and was now in a place that he had no clue where was. There was very little of anything around him, and he was beginning to get a little frightened. "Thithter! Thithter Erica, where are you!?" he called out, whining a bit at the end. If he couldn't find his sister, how was he supposed to find his way back to his home? "Thithter! Pleathe, where are you, I don't know where I am..." he began to sniffle, his bottom lip quivering.

He continued walking around, glancing around, until suddenly, he saw someone a few feet away from him, who was walking in the opposite direction that he was. Maybe she was going to his house? With a smile, he began to trot in her direction, calling out, "Hewo! Hewo! Mith? Mith! Hewo! Hewp!" the girl stopped, and turned her head in the direction of the little four-year-old.

He stumbled a bit at seeing the strange looking girl's features - short, deep, deep purple hair, a beautiful golden color of eyes, and deadly pale skin. He had never seen anyone look quite so scary; well, except for his Mom, when she got really angry, then she was menacing. This girl in front of him looked almost dead, except for the fact that her eyes were very intense, and she was scowling/glaring at him.

"What is it, child?" she asked in a very chilling voice, her eyes narrowing somewhat. Edan felt like running away from this 'scary lady', but for some reason, he found that he couldn't move his legs.

"Um... um... h-hi, Mith... I'm Edan... what'th your name?" he stuttered, blinking up at the girl, who just rolled her eyes, and crossed her arms.

"Ran. Now, quit wasting my time, and tell me, what do you want?" she asked in irritation, narrowing her eyes at the little boy, who shrunk back, away from her, staring up at her with wide, fearful emerald green orbs. Ran stood there, staring down at him, waiting for him to answer for a bit, getting more irritated as she waited longer. With a frustrated sigh, she let her face relax a bit, and smiled slightly at the small boy. "Okay, Edan, what is it that you want?" she asked in the nicest voice she could manage.

Edan seemed to calm down a little, and smiled cautiously up at her. "Um, Mith Ran, I'm wotht..." he said, his bottom lip sticking out in a pout, and shaking. Ran just rolled her eyes at him, and then looked straight into his eyes, raising an eyebrow.

"You're what?" she asked, and Edan blinked at her.

"Wotht."

"What?"

"I'm wotht."

"You're what?"

"Wotht."

"Grr... you are what?"

"I'm wotht."

Ran looked at him with a half-lidded, vexed look. "Can you please speak more clearly?"

"Huh?" Edan looked at her in confusion.

Ran sighed, covering her eyes with her hand, "Tell me, more clearly, what are you?"

"I'm wotht."

With an irritated growl, Ran ran a hand through her hair, glaring at the child standing in front of her. "Okay, you're... wotht... whatever that means..."

Edan gave her a strange look, and tilted his head to the side. "It meanth that I can't find my houthe..."

"Your what?... Oh, never mind."

"I can't go home. I'm wotht."

Recognition flashed across Ran's face. "Oh! You're lost?"

With a sigh of irritation, similar to Ran's, Edan frowned at her. "That'th what I thaid."

Ran raised an eyebrow at him, then slapped a hand over her eyes. "Right. Whatever. So, anyway, you're lost. Do you remember which direction your house is in?" she asked, but Edan just furrowed his eyebrows, and looked around, obviously trying to recall exactly where he had come from. He spun around once, a little fast, his left foot catching on the right, and found himself falling, but Ran was quicker, and steadied him.

"Thank you, Mith Ran..." Edan smiled up at her, then after a minute, pouted, sniffing. "I don't know which way... doeth that mean I'ww never see my Mommy and Daddy and thither again?" he whimpered, his bottom lip quivering. Ran sighed, sat down on the ground, and hugged the boy.

"Come on, child, you'll see your family again. Please, stop crying. ... I mean it, stop... shut up, please." Ran begged, in a not-so-comforting voice, rocking back and forth, but Edan just wailed louder. "Damnit, you human child, shut your trap!"

Edan pulled back, aghast at what Ran had said, and forgetting all about his dismay about his family. He then jumped out of Ran's grasp, and began running away from her. "You're a bad girl! You thaid that word Mommy thays ith bad! And you ithn't a hooman! Hewp! Hewp! Mith Ran ith an eviw wady! HEWP!" he cried as he ran, making Ran slap her face, and sigh in irritation.

"Stupid human child... I wonder if all human children are this stupid..." Ran mumbled under her breath, before looking at Edan, who had just dove behind a small hill, but Ran could still hear him yelling about how she had said 'the word', and she was an 'evil lady', and how someone needed to save him from 'Miss Ran'. "Oh well, he's not my problem." she stood up, shrugged, and began heading in the direction she had been heading before.

As she was walking, Edan's voice began to fade. And when she finally couldn't hear it anymore, she began to feel an emotion that she had thought only humans felt. She scowled, closed her eyes, and shook her head. "It's nothing. Guilt isn't something a Dream Demon like I should feel. I mean, it's just a puny little human child, it's not my problem, and I certainly don't care if it gets eaten by a... mon... ster..." Ran trailed off, biting her lip, as the feeling of guilt grew. "No! No! I am unfeeling for humans! It's just a stupid little runt of a pest! He's in your way of... oh, shit, I hate being half human..." And with that, she turned, and stormed back in the direction that Edan was in, mumbling a line of profanities.

She approached the small hill that he was behind, but even thought she was really quite close to it, she could not hear any noise at all. "Edan..." she said slowly, and softly, as she walked around the hill. In getting no answer, she walked around more quickly, but smiled when she saw him, lying against the sand, hands over his eyes, and heard him whimper lightly. "Edan, I'm sorry." she said, crouching down and placing her hands down on the ground in front of her to keep her balance. He flinched, but didn't take his hands away from his face. "Edan, come on, I didn't mean to yell at you like that... I didn't mean to say the bad word... if you come with me, I'll help you find your family." she said, placing one of her hands on his shoulder.

_I feel so... so... stupid. I mean, here I am, begging this little runt to forgive me, just so I can help him? Forget it, Ran, turn your back on him, and walk away! You have more important things to do right now! Like, do what you've been doing for four years now! Try to find the Bernadette family! Get up, get up, forget the child! ... I can't... grr..._ she thought, shaking her head to clear her mind, and focused on Edan, who had pulled his hands away from his face and was staring at her, cautiously.

"Weawy?" he asked, blinking at her. She sighed, and nodded her head, making him squeak in happiness, then leap onto her, his arms squeezing Ran's neck. "Thank you, Mith Ran!" he then kissed her cheek in a big, wet, sloppy way, making her want to growl at him; but, she didn't, because she knew that he'd become afraid of her again.

"Yeah, yeah... now, if you do that again, I won't help you, got it? No more kisses, and no more choking me." she stated firmly, and he nodded readily, a grin plastered to his face. With that, she stood up, and began walking in the direction she had been before, expecting him to follow her. When she didn't hear footsteps, she stopped, and looked back at him, to see him just standing there, looking at her strangely. "Well, what are you waiting for? You're supposed to follow me, child." Edan made an 'o' shape with his mouth, then ran to catch up with her.

**_[.,.Panhytadda.,.Nacetahla.,.]_******

Denae sat in a chair at the diningroom table, her face pouting, and streaked with tears. Razi sat across from her, watching her, to make sure she didn't exit; Vedette sat beside him, also watching her. They had been watching her for quite a while now, every once and a while asking if they were to let her go, if she wouldn't kill Erica - needless to say, she hadn't said she wouldn't yet. Razi leaned forward on the table, his arms crossed and his brow slightly furrowed, and asked, "Now, Denae. For the twentieth time. This can't be too fun for you; if you want to be able to leave that chair, you'll have to promise not to kill Erica. Now, promise?"

Denae shot up, pounding her fist onto the table, and glaring at them. "But she killed my Grandparents! You don't understand! You just don't! Grandpa Clive and Grandma Catherine were such wonderful people, and she _killed them!!_" Denae roared, now beating both fists against the table. Razi and Vedette sighed, leaning back in their seats, and Vedette massaged her temples, shaking her head. Denae stood there like that for a moment, before sighing shakily, sinking back down into her chair, and resting her head on the table. "Fine... fine... I... I won't kill her... okay?" she mumbled.

Razi smiled, and reached forward, patting Denae on the head. "Good girl. I'm sure it wasn't Erica that killed them anyway, I mean, it could have just been someone that _looked_ like her, for all we know! Or, if it was her that was there, how do we know she wasn't dragged along with that Jacqui Cascade?" he tried to comfort her, but only got a depressed sigh in response.

**_[.,.Jemmyka.,.uv.,.Cinv.,.]_**__

In Surf Village (PianZoe: See! I do sometimes include things from the first WA!), in an inn called The Green Feline (CiaHottie: I named the Inn. PianZoe: And we know that there wasn't an Inn in Surf Village before, but, I mean, it's been a couple thousand years since WA, so, they probably made it quite a bit bigger...), sat Anna Lenial, at the counter, scowling into her glass full of the non-alcoholic drink called a Calamity Jane (PianZoe: It's kind of like a Shirley Temple or a Roy Rogers, if you've ever had one). She swirled the contents in the cup with a straw, watching the maraschino cherry bob around, under the ice. "I'm such an idiot..." she sighed, taking a sip of the tasty beverage.

The bartender, a rough-looking man of around forty-three, chuckled at her, while fixing another customer's drink. "I'll say - buying a non-alcoholic drink when you're in such a rut, and when you're old enough? That's not very smart; well, at least, I don't think so. But, hey, what do I know?" he looked directly at her face, to see her glaring at him (PianZoe: Oh, by the way, Anna is just telling everyone that she's twenty-one. She's really just nineteen). "Oh, that's not what you meant, eh?" he chuckled, giving the other customer his drink, then sitting down in front of Anna. "So, what's the problem? Maybe I can help? Doubt it, but, I gotta do something besides wait on people, I'm gettin' downright bored!"

Anna rolled her eyes, and sighed, setting her Calamity Jane down. "Alright. But you can't help. Well, I had been searching for Jacqui Cascade and her accomplice, Erica, for a couple years. They were wanted for murder and robbery. Of course, you probably know that, as I see you have their wanted poster up over there." she motioned behind the bartender, at the poster, and he nodded, motioning for her to go on with her story. "Well, the other day I came across Erica, but at first didn't know who she was. I think her hair has grown since her picture was taken for the wanted picture, it's now in her face. Well, her aunt - who is surprisingly the same age as her - Vedette invited me to join their Drifter team, and I said sure; I mean, it couldn't hurt, right? I would stay with them until I found Erica and Jacqui. So, we went to Boot Hill, to Erica's house, had a family reunion thing between her and her parents and little brother. Then she told her parents what had happened, and that's when I realized; I knew exactly who this was! So, I attempted to capture her, but, once I got her outside, her father distracted me, so she got away. And I escaped before her family could get me, coming here."

The bartender shook his head, with a sigh. "Hm. I can sorta see why you're thinkin' you're not so smart, but, why get so worked up about it? You'll find Erica and Jacqui again, it's not like if you mess up once, they dropped off the face o' Filgaia." he chuckled, taking an order from a man that sat down beside Anna.

She shook her head, with a sigh, and placed her face in her hands, shaking her head. "That's the reason I feel like an idiot, but... the reason I'm so depressed is because... well... I just realized something on the way here. You see, four years ago I found out that my Mom had been lying to me about what happened to my Dad... and she had been lying about his name, too, actually... his name was Anthony Bernadette... and... and... Erica's father is Anthony Bernadette. So I am related to a criminal... she's my half-sister! Erica Bernadette! I met my father, and I didn't realize it! I am so stupid! I've always wanted to meet him, and tell him who I am..." by now, Anna found herself on the edge of tears. "My Dad... I finally meet him, and... and I tried to shoot him..."

The bartender looked at her with sympathy, reached out, pulled her hands away from her face, and tilted her face upwards, to look at him. "Listen, missy, you should go back, and ask for him to forgive you. If he doesn't, it's probably not a big loss, since he wasn't there for you and your mother. And if you feel too depressed about it, you can always come back here, I'm always free to comfort one of my favorite customers. Oh, and by the way, the name's Iggy." when Anna raised an eyebrow at him, looking about ready to laugh, he chuckled. "It's better than my real name - Ignatius. Anyway, what's your name?"

"Anna Eleniak. Actually, it's Anastasia, but Anna is easier to remember." she smiled, and they shook hands. "Nice to meet you, Iggy."

"Likewise, Anastasia."

"Please, call me Anna."

"Right."

**_[.,.Pylg.,.du.,.Nyh.,.yht.,.Atyh.,.]_**__

Ran was angry. And not just irritated-angry, but seriously-pissed-off-angry. Who knew a small little human child could be so much trouble? If she wasn't half human, she would have thrown him off a cliff an hour ago when she met him. He was a motor mouth, asking questions about anything and everything, and every time she'd reply, he'd respond with 'Why?', and would tug on her skirt. He was currently lying in her arms, quiet because he was finally asleep; he had finally worn himself down enough, so that he had leaned against her legs, muttering about not being tired, and not needing a nap.

So, Ran was calming down - now, she was hoping that no monsters would attack them. "Please... please... let him stay asleep... please..." she muttered, but as she did so, a very loud growl came from a bush to the right of her, and a large wolf-skeleton pounced out from behind it, making a large 'WHUMP' sound, and causing Ran's whole body to jerk in surprise, which resulted in Edan snapping awake and screaming. Ran's eyes widened in fear; but not because of the beast, oh no. "NOOOOOO!" she screamed, her voice blending with Edan's. Then she stopped, narrowed her eyes at the fiend, and growled, in a very, very menacing way. "_Oh, how you are going to regret coming across me right now..._"

**_[.,.Yidrun'c.,.huda.,.]_**__

PianZoe: There! Chappy ten, DONE! We do not own the Wild ARMs games. No. We don't. We just own a lot of the characters in SW.


	11. Sappiness Reigns, Muahaha!

PianZoe: **_coughs a very deep cough_** Ugh... **_cough_** I hate this stupid cough... I was barely outside for a few minutes... **_cough, cough_**

CiaHottie: That's what you get for not writing fast enough. **_smirk_**

PianZoe: **_scowls at Cia_** You _want_ me to feel sick, just because I don't write very fast?! _**drinks really hot water, which soothes cough**_

CiaHottie: No. If you felt sick, you wouldn't write at all! **_snickers, then shakes head_** No, no, I don't want you to feel sick at all. Instead, I want you to... say the disclaimer.

PianZoe: Fine, fine... cough Neither CiaHottie nor I own Wild ARMs, Wild ARMs 2, or Wild ARMs 3 (or Wild ARMs Alter Code F, or The Fourth Detonator, or the anime, or the manga...). Well, we own a lot of the characters in this, though... oh! **_cough, cough, cough_** And I _do_ own a **copy** of 1, 2, and 3! Does that count as **_owning_** them? I hope so, because I really want to...

CiaHottie: Good girl! **_pats PianZoe's head, like a dog's_** Here, have a treat. **_tosses a heal berry at PZ_**

PianZoe: Yay! Bark, bark. _**grabs heal berry and eats it, then... COUGH, COUGH**_ **_That's not a heal berry!!_** **_long, loud cough_**

CiaHottie: **_smirk_** _... or is it? Dun, dun, dunnnnn..._

**_.,.Xgaorwe.,.Wkwcwb.,.Dwwkubfa.,.Eyb.,.Quks.,._******

Anthony, Georgia, Erica, and Kevin were in a group, out searching for Edan. Anthony was mostly just trying to calm his wife down, while Erica and Kevin searched every single place they passed. But he was nowhere to be found. Erica glanced at Kevin in worry, and gripped his arm. "Kev, what if... what if Jacqui got him? What if a monster found him? What if Jacqui found him!? My poor, helpless baby brother..." she bit her lip, closing her eyes, and let go of his arm. "Sorry. Sorry..." she muttered, and walked ahead, pretending to look behind a large rock - but really, trying to hide the fact that she was unsuccessfully holding back her tears.

Kevin stared at her back in sympathy, thinking that if he was in Erica's place, and Denae in Edan's... well, if Denae was eleven years younger than him, then he would be just as worried; but, what made it worse for Erica was the fact that she had barely just met her little brother, and now he was missing, most likely in great danger. Erica was now not only hunch over the rock, crying silent tears, but was instead trying to hold back her small sobs, unsuccessfully, and Kevin noticed this almost immediately. He furrowed his eyebrows, and walked towards the slouched figure of his best friend, murmuring her name in order to possibly comfort her.

"Erica... it's okay... we'll find him... he's fine, I'm sure... shh... please don't... don't cry..." he tried his best at comforting the younger girl, but just succeeded in making her sobs grow louder, making him roll his eyes upwards, and bite the inside of his cheek. _'Err... what now? Someone should make a manual on girl's, for us guys to know what to do, and when to do it, and how to do it. Like... Chapter 3: How to Comfort the Girl You Love When She's Sobbing Hysterically. Heh, heh... geh... Wait a minute... oops, er, I mean, change the Love in that to Like... heh... heh...I don't know if I love her or not...' _he thought to himself, looking back down at Erica, to find that she had turned to him, and was no longer sobbing, but the tears still freely trickled down her face. He smiled at her, and wrapped his arms around her, patting her on the back, as she rested her head in the crook of his neck.

"Ke-Kevin..." Erica started, her voice cracking, but Kevin shushed her, and pulled her back away from him, and touched his forehead to her's, so they were staring into each other's eyes.

"I know you too well. Although, you could have changed, I know you haven't by the tone of your voice when you said my name. Don't apologize for breaking down. Everyone does it, it's not like I'll hate you now, just because you broke down because your baby brother is missing in a dangerous wilderness, right after you just barely meet up with your family again." he said, smacking her very lightly in the head, jokingly. "You really think I'm that mean? I'm hurt, I'm really hurt..." he pulled away dramatically, pretending to be literally hurt, which Erica thought silly, making her giggle.

Erica shook her head, hiccuping once from the sobbing she had done, and the laughter, and pulled on Kevin's arm playfully. "Hey, you, that's not what I meant at all. Quit putting that invisible spear through your head..." she tugged on his arm again, harder this time, making him turn, and stumble into her, which caused her to loose her balance. "Whoa... whoa...! _Whoa!_" she waved her arms around to balance herself, but with Kevin's extra weight leaning on her upper half, it wasn't easy; and with a poof of dust, they fell to the ground, in a very bad looking position. Erica and Kevin both turned scarlet, and Erica used her elbows to prop herself up, as Kevin pushed with his arms so that he wouldn't be completely on top of her, but was still halfway on her, and staring down at her face.

They stared at one another's exceedingly red faces, until Kevin began to lower his head, slowly. Erica immediately realized what he was doing, and closed her eyes, raising her head slightly, her insides fluttering with nervousness, and excitement. Kevin closed his eyes as well, and just as their lips were about to connect, the clearing of a throat was heard, as well as a foot tapping. Their eyes snapped open, and Kevin jumped off Erica, his expression that of a deer caught in headlights.

There stood Anthony and Georgia - Anthony had his arms crossed over his chest, and was scowling at Kevin in a **_very_** threatening way, and Georgia was narrowing her eyes, switching her gaze from Kevin to Erica, her hands on her hips, and her foot was tapping. Kevin felt sweat forming on his head. "Uh... uh, er... It... I-I-it's not wh-what it looks like, Mr. and Mrs. Bernadette! Honest! I would never... we were... no, no... it's not... ack... don't kill me!" he exclaimed, clenching his eyes shut, and covering his head with his arms, his whole body shaking.

If they weren't in the situation they were in, Erica would have laughed, but seeing as how she and Kev were being accused of... _doing stuff_, she felt that it really would be better not to. She, instead, got to her feet, dusted herself off, and frowned at her parents. "Mom, Dad, I know you don't know me very well, but if you did you'd know that I'd never do anything like that, and you should know that Kevin would **never**... well... do something inappropriate to me! Well, at least, I think he wouldn't..." she mumbled the last part under her breath, so only Kevin could hear her, then whispered to him, "You wouldn't, right?" And to answer her question, he lowered his arms, and stared at her as if she wasn't very observant (PianZoe: Actually, his expression was more like 'WHAT!? ARE YOU THAT STUPID!? OF COURSE NOT!'). "Okay, thought so."

Georgia let her hands fall from her hips, stopped her foot from tapping any more, and closed her eyes, massaging her head with her right hand. "Yes, we know, Erica, but if it's not what it looked like, then what was it?" she asked, with a sigh, as she opened her eyes and looked right at her daughter, with a questioning look.

Erica sighed in frustration, and shook her head. "It was nothing, at all. I broke down because of Edan being missing, then tried to hide my tears by pretending to look behind this rock. Kevin noticed, though, and tried to comfort me, then I said something, and he pretended that it hurt him, and when I tried to get him to stop by pulling on his arm, we fell into that position!" she barked, her frown deepening, as she balled her hands into fists.

Georgia raised an eyebrow, and crossed her arms, a disbelieving look on her face. "Oh really. Okay, then why did it look like you two were about to kiss?" she inquired, making Erica clench her teeth, and growl.

"**_Maybe because we were, Mom!!_**__" she exclaimed, stomping her foot, and glaring.

Georgia gasped, her face changing from irritation to shock for a moment, then to shocked anger. "You _were_? Young lady, you are only **_fifteen_**!" she scolded, resulting in Erica screaming a closed mouth scream, and gripping at her hair.

"Moooom!! So what if I am fifteen!? Big stinkin' deal! It's not like I'm nine! And I am just as mature as any twenty year old, I've been told by several people! So I can kiss any guy I want to!" she snapped, as Georgia took several steps closer to her.

"You will not take that tone with me! I am your mother, so that means, if I tell you that you cannot kiss, you cannot. And yeah, you sound _really_ mature to me." Georgia snapped sarcastically.

Erica's jaw dropped, her eyebrows shot up, and then her face formed into a mix between anger and a pout, as she took a couple steps back from her Mom. "You know what, Mom? I'm beginning to wish I had just stayed with Jacqui." she said quietly, her voice slightly cracking, as she narrowed her eyes, and tightened her fists. "I hate you!" she hissed, turning sharply, and running off, fighting back tears.

Georgia called after her daughter, and began chasing her. Anthony thought this was the perfect chance for a **_talk_** with Kevin.

After watching his wife chase their daughter for a bit, he turned his gaze to his daughter's best friend, with slightly narrowed eyes, to see that the younger boy was trying desperately to find a direction to escape in, that he wouldn't be seen. "Stop right where you are." he commanded, and Kevin froze, his eyes fearfully wide, as he turned at looked at Erica's father. "What exactly did you think you were doing, lying on my daughter?" he hissed, threateningly.

Kevin desperately raked his mind for an answer. "Er... er... uh... ehr... I-I-I-I-I... I, I... we-we-we... nothing, I was... we were doing nothing, it's just like she said to Mrs. Bernadette!" he stuttered nervously, his eyes darting to Erica's still running form off in the distance. "She... she was sobbing... I wanted to comfort her... and... and-and-and we just... we just fell!"

Anthony took a couple strides towards Kevin, and grabbed the front of his shirt, glaring down at the wide-eyed youth. "If I ever, and I mean, _ever_ catch you touching my daughter in an inappropriate way again, you can say goodbye to any chance of living past seventeen." he hissed threateningly, then roughly let go of Kevin's shirt, causing him to stumble backwards, tripping, and landing flat on his back, eyes still wide, staring at the sky as if he didn't realize that he was no longer being scolded.

Anthony blinked at the seventeen-year-old, with an odd expression. After a few minutes, he couldn't help but laugh at the terrified boy's expense. Not that Kevin noticed at all. Nope. He had, by now, fallen unconscious.

**_.,.Nywe.,.yht.,.Yhhy.,._**

Razi sat on the porch of the Bernadette residence, staring forwards, sadly, obviously lost in thought. With a depressed sigh, he turned, leaning up against a pole, his legs bent up against his chest, and rested his head in his hands. Vedette and Denae had gone off to help Anthony, Georgia, Kevin, and Erica search for Edan, and had told him to stay there and watch the house. Even though he was the man, and they were the girls. They had gotten into a large fight about who would go to help, and it ended with the two girls practically shoving him back into the house.

And now he was sitting here, in a state of self-pity. _Who am I kidding? I mean, how could I ever think I had a chance with Erica? It's obvious that she likes Kevin a lot more... I mean, she barely even acknowledges me... It was like that when we were younger, too..._ he thought, with another depressed sigh, and shook his head as he did so. _It was always Erica and Kevin, Erica and Kevin... never Erica and Razi... She doesn't even seem to remember me... at all... She remembers Kevin... and Vedette and Denae and her parents... But, I can't blame her... I mean, who would want to remember me? Stupid ol' good-for-nothing Razi Caradine..._

He was so absorbed in his thoughts, that he didn't hear a horse trot up to the house, or someone jump off the horse and walk over towards him. So, when the person squatted down next to him, and poked his head, it was natural that he jump a couple inches off the porch, make a surprised yelping noise, and jerk his head in the person direction. But, when he did, he had to back up a bit, because he found his face only an inch away from another's face. "Wha- Anna Lenial!?" he stuttered, once he saw all of the person's face.

Indeed, it was Miss Anna Lenial (better known as Anastasia Eleniak) who was squatting next to him, staring at him with a small half smile, and a raised eyebrow. "Yeah, it's me. I just came back to return your horse... and... well... to see if Erica was here... but I guess she's not, so, I better get going..." she said, before she started to stand up. Razi stood up as well, looking over at his horse.

"Oh yeah... I forgot you had my horse... I couldn't have gone anyway..." he said to himself, making Anna turn her head back towards him, and raise her eyebrow at him again, this time in question. He noticed her do so out of the corner of his eye, and hung his head slightly, scratching the back of it. "Well, Mr. Bernadette, Mrs. Bernadette, Erica, and Kevin went to look for Erica's little brother, Edan, because he went to look for Erica when she got kidnaped after you tried to kidnap her... and Vedette and Denae went to go help them, and I wanted to go too, but they put me in charge of looking after the house..." he growled, glared off in the direction they rode in. Anna just chuckled, and shook her head.

"And if I could sneak up on you like that, I think they made the wrong choice in having you watch the house." she snickered, which, in reply, Razi sighed, flopped back down where he had been sitting, his head buried in his arms that were resting on his bent knees. Anna looked down at him in slight worry; had she said something wrong? She sat back down next to him, and placed a hand on his shoulder. "Hey... you okay?"

He sighed again, and replied, in an irritated voce, "No."

She furrowed her brow, and pushed his shoulder lightly. "Well? Are you going to tell me what's wrong?"

"No." he retorted once again.

She scowled at him, taking her hand from his shoulder, and crossed her arms. "Oh come on. It's better to tell someone."

He just shook his head, and she rolled her eyes at this. He was acting too childishly in her opinion. "_No_... It's stupid anyway... just like me..." he muttered, turning his head in the opposite direction of Anna. She humphed, and whopped him over the head, thinking, _Well, at least he told me **something**..._ Razi's head shot up after she had whopped him, whipping around in her direction, and he had a glare on his face. "What was that for!?"

She snorted, and rolled her eyes. "Well, it's for saying you're stupid. You're not stupid."

He stared at her for a moment with a slightly shocked look on his face, before shaking his head, and laying it back down on his arms. "You're crazy... you don't even know me... how do _you_ know I'm not stupid? For all you know, I could be a complete dunce..."

She shrugged, and wrapped her arms around her own bent legs. "Well, I just don't think you are. You just don't seem all that stupid to me." she stated simply, turning her head look out over the horizon. "Why do you say you're stupid, anyway?"

He sighed again, and then brought his head back up, staring in the same direction she was. "Well... just about everything I do makes me feel stupid... people are always calling me things like 'idiot', 'dolt', 'imbecile', 'dullard', and much more... And they have my entire life..."

Anna glanced over at him, with sympathy on her face, then scooted slightly closer, as a cold breeze blew past - it was getting late. She knew she should be leaving now, to search for Erica before it got dark. But she felt as if she couldn't leave. She didn't really want to, either. She was tired of searching, and it wouldn't hurt her one bit if she sat here and listened to the boy's problem.

"And... well... I never really... took what they called me seriously before now... I mean, I don't care what other people think of me... except for Erica... I didn't care what she thought. Ever since she was about... nine I've had this thing for her... but so did Kevin. We were always competing for her... and when she went missing, we were competing about who would find her first and then we'd argue about how when we did, she wouldn't fall for the other one. Now that we've found her... it's obvious... and, actually, it was obvious before she went missing too... she's always preferred Kevin to me... she doesn't even know I exist now... how could I have been so stupid to think she would fall for _me_, the idiot, the ugly one, the klutzy oaf?" he said with bitterness towards himself, and fell backwards, to lay on his back, and stare up at the ceiling-type-thing, with his arms resting across his stomach.

Anna rolled her eyes heavenward, and fell back as well, glancing over at him, and resting her head on her arms. "You're not an idiot, you're not ugly, and you're not a klutzy oaf." she snapped at him, to which he replied by turning his head in her direction, and raising an eyebrow at her. "Well, okay, I kinda have to admit, you are kinda clumsy from what I saw, but ugly and stupid? No way. Actually, you're kinda handsome." she smiled at him, to which he just blushed slightly, and turned his head, to look up at the ceiling thing again. She chuckled at his reaction, turned her head to look upwards again, and they stayed that way for a while, just lying next to each other, and staring upwards.

It had been quite a while since either one had spoken at all, and they each thought the other one had fallen asleep. So, Anna decided to tell what she thought was the sleeping Razi her story. He told her his story, so, she thought that she owed him - she thought of this as more of a practice for when she really would tell him. "Razi... my name... it's... it's not really Anna Lenial... It's really Anastasia Eleniak... and... I'm not really twenty-one... actually, I don't think I told you that I was, but, anyway... I'm really only nineteen... yeah... same age as you... I lied about my name and age because I ran away from home when I was fifteen, and wanted to forget everything about my mother... she had lied to me about my father... said that he got hit by a train, and that his name was... well, I don't remember... but, somehow I found out that my father was really alive... and so I left my lying mother to find my father, to see if he was still alive... and I've found him... that's part of the reason I came back here... he's... Mr. Bernadette..."

"**_WHAT?!_******" she heard Razi shout beside her, and look over to him, to see him sitting up and staring down at her with an extremely shocked expression. "You gotta be joking!" he exclaimed, and she just shook her head, looking at him in slight confusion - she thought he had been asleep? He had really been awake!? "You're not?! That means... that means... you're Erica's half sister?! Erica's older half-sister!? You don't look a thing like Mr. Bernadette! Man, you learn something new everyday! How can you be Erica's older half-sister?! I mean, you are just as pretty as her - maybe even _prettier_ - but... still! She has an older half-sister!?" he exclaimed, putting a hand to his head, and scratching it in extreme confusion.

Anna laughed slightly, and sat up, patting him on the head. "I think we've established the fact that I am, indeed, her older half-sister." as she continued to pat him on the head, suddenly something he said registered in her head, causing her to stop patting him on the head, and to stared at him strangely. "Did you say that... you think I'm... prettier than Erica?" she questioned, narrowing one eye at him.

His eyes widened, his face flushed slightly, and his eyes darted around as he tried to recall what he said. _Oh, no, I did, didn't I? Shoot!... Well, it is sorta the truth, but still... stupid, stupid, stupid..._ his mind barked at him as he remembered that he had, in fact, told her that he thought she was prettier than the girl he had had a crush on for seven years. "Er... yes..." he said, trying to make it sound as casual as possible.

After he had said it, Anna crossed her arms, and smirked at him. "You think I'm beautiful?"

"Um... yes..." he said uneasily, trying to look anywhere but at her.

She leaned a bit closer to him, and she could tell he noticed by how the blush on his face deepened slightly. "Aw, you're so _sweet_... have you thought that since you first laid eyes on me?"

"Maybe..."

"Yes or no?"

"Yeee... no."

"No?" she questioned disbelievingly, raising an eyebrow at him.

"Well, okay, yeah, sorta..."

She leaned closer to him again, the smirk growing into a grin. "You think I'm **really** beautiful? Do you think I have a nice personality? Am I bothering you? Did you like hanging out with me tonight? Was I much of a bother? Do you like me? Am I annoying you? Do you want me to shut up?"

"Yeah, yes, no, yeah, no, yeah, no, not really..." he replied to all of the questions, still trying to avoid looking at her, which was increasingly hard with how she kept getting closer, and closer, and closer... _Geez, she's practically sitting on me! _This thought made his face get brighter red.

"Oh, _is that so_..." she giggled (actually, it was more of a mix between an amused chuckle and a snicker, not really a giggle), scooting a bit closer, so that their hips were touching, and leaned against him, turning his face to her, so they could look each other in the eyes. As she did so, his face deepened about five shades, but she acted as if she didn't notice, and instead, just jumped forward a bit, planting a quick kiss on his lips, causing him to stare down at her with extremely wide eyes. "That was my thank you for all those compliments."

He continued to stare down at her for a few more minutes, then shook his head slightly to snap out of it, and attempted to reply. "Welcome...!" he squeaked out, to which he shook his head again, and cleared his throat. "Uh, I mean, you're welcome..." he stuttered, his voice pretty muchly back to normal.

She laughed again, and wrapped her arms around him, nestling her head against his chest, her eyes closed. "Hm... you're comfy..." she purred, petting his back as she did so. Razi was surprised his face hadn't exploded from all the blood rushing to it, yet. He slowly, and hesitantly slipped his arms around her, timidly patting her back.

"Um... thanks..." he stuttered, and as he did so, Anna's eyes fluttered open, and she looked up at his face, before slowly pulling away, and turning away from him, hanging her head.

"I'm sorry if I made you feel uncomfortable... I better go now..." she murmured, as she stood up, her arms around herself, and began walking in the direction she had come from. Razi stared at her back with a kind of confused, disappointed expression on his face, before he furrowed his eyebrows, stood up, and ran up behind her, grabbing her arm.

"No, Anastasia, don't go. Why are you leaving? Was it something I did? If it is, I'm sorry... please stay? If you go now, I'll end up drowning in self-pity..." he stated, and she turned her head back to look at him. She stared at him for a minute, before she shook her head, and proceeded to try to pull her arm away from him, but he held her arm in a firm grip.

"No, I can't stay! Please, let go, I must go... If I stay any longer... It just... wouldn't be a good idea... Razi, let go!" she cried out, trying with all her might to pull away from him. But, he held as tight to her as he could, and finally, Anna gave up, falling against him, and beating a fist against his shoulder. "I can't stay! I just can't! If I do, who knows what might happen? I've already reminded myself of my horrible mother... and... if I started to act like her... I would regret it deeply... you probably would too... I can't... must... leave..." she began to cry slightly, wrapping her arms around him, as he did similar. "Then we'll have a mistake, just like me... me, the mistake..."

_Geez, she's kinda over-dramatic, huh...? Well, I can kinda see why she thinks of herself as a mistake, but she's not..._ Razi thought, looking at the girl in sympathy. "You're not a mistake... and we would not make a mistake. I think the most we'd do is talk, Anna... we don't know each other that well..."

Anna just growled, and shook her head violently. "But my mom and Mr. Bernadette had just barely met when they made me! Mom thought he was cute, and she didn't even ever _want_ children! To her I was a mistake! And probably to Mr. Bernadette, too, if he even knows!" she barked at him, crying harder now.

_All of this just because she reminded herself of her mother..._ He inwardly sighed, as he rubbed the hiccuping redhead's back, trying to comfort her. "Anna... Anna! You are no mistake, you hear me!? You are the most... er... un-mistaky-est person I've ever met!" he stated clearly, mentally smacking himself for not knowing enough words.

Anna chuckled lightly, hiccuping afterward, at his choice of words. "Un-mistaky-est? Heheh... th-thank you, Razi... now I feel kinda special, for you to make up a word for me..." she teased, ending with a hiccup, and sniffled, wiping the tears off her face with the back of her hand. She then yawned, trying to hide it, but Razi noticed, and began to lead her back to the house. "But..." she started to protest, but Razi shushed her, and shook his head.

"Ah, ah, ah. You're going to spend the night here. How about in Erica's old room?"

"Okay... can you... erm..." she trailed off, and shook her head. "Nah, never mind."

He looked at her curiously. "What?"

"Well... I was wondering if you'd... um... stay with me until I fall asleep... I mean, to talk and stuff..."

He smiled at her, and nodded his head. "Okay."

**_.,.BeyhWua.,.LeyRuddea.,.Hudac.,._**__

PianZoe: Wow, it's done! It's actually... kinda good, I kinda like it... it sure is an emotional chapter... humor, drama, humor, drama, humorous romance, dramatic romance, romance... sighs romantically

CiaHottie: Uhh.. Yeah.. What she said. points at PianZoe, chuckling unneasily.

PianZoe: Nyeh. Anyway, well, that's chapter eleven! Hope you enjoyed it. Chapter twelve probably will be out in a month since I'm writing the rest of this fic... I'll try to be quick, though...

CiaHottie: pulls out her whip You better be quick... Muahaha...

PianZoe: laughs nervously, backing away Heh... heh... proceeds to run like a cat being chased by a dog out of the room

CiaHottie: smirks evilly

PianZoe: from other room Once again, sorry that the chapter was late!


	12. A CLIFFhanger, and lots of apologies

**PianZoe: **Oh... wow. I am so sorry. I have no good excuse as to why we completely abandoned this fan fic, except that... well.. shortly after we posted the last chapter, my computer died, and we had to put in a new hard drive. Then, I was going to have my Dad put in the old hard drive, with all of our information about these stories (and when I say all of the information, I mean that there were over twenty files about them) - along with the next chapter to this one - in the new computer. But... unfortunately, we'd lost it. After a few months, we finally found it, but he'd wiped it, so all of the information was gone, and so I lost the desire to write on this story. Plus, I got more interested in Fushigi Yuugi, and other animes and stuff. I'm so sorry! But, on Sunday, Cia and I were playing the Sims 2, and made an Anthony and Georgia family, which made us want to reread DTD. So, I did, and then I reread this one, and when I finished it, my desire to write on it reignited! Yay! So, yeah. Most of you that read these before probably barely remember them, huh? Four years.. I mean, the last time I wrote on this, I was fifteen, and now I'm nineteen. Wow. And, sorry if this is the only chapter for a while, I'm still not that good at updating regularly. Heh...

**Disclaimer:** Still don't own WA, WA2, WA3, WAACF, WA4, or WA5, or any of the characters or towns or anything therein. Do own copies of them, though.

Erica could hear her Mom calling her name, but she didn't care. She really didn't care. So what if she had been about to kiss Kevin? It wasn't as if she were still eleven, and he were still thirteen. Plus, nothing was going to happen. It was a simple kiss. A kiss that felt like it had been a long time in coming, but had been forced to be, yet again, put off until another time. She let out a hiccuping sob, and wiped at her eyes, trying to get the tears to stop flowing, but, yet more leaked out as soon as she wiped the first ones away.

She knew that her parents trusted Kevin, so why shouldn't they trust him with her? Maybe she was being childish about this whole thing. _I probably am_, she thought to herself, shaking her head, but not slowing down - if anything, she sped up. _No, it's not me. It's them. They could let me have one kiss, it's not that big of a deal. Jacqui would have let me kiss him; she would've let me go anything I wanted,_ she thought to herself, beginning to want to go back to the only person she really remembered ever living with. It wasn't as if she were attached to her parents, or any of the others, except Kevin. She couldn't remember them, at all, whereas she had... slightly pleasant memories of being with Jacqui. Many of them weren't pleasant. But she could get past that.

Again, she heard her name being called, and she growled, shouting back, "_Forget it!_"

She didn't know how long she'd been running, but she did know that it had been for quite a while. Long enough that her lungs were beginning to burn, and her legs were beginning to tell her to stop, to rest. But she wasn't going to listen - she'd been on the run for the past for years, she could outrun anyone. She'd gotten to where she could outrun any sort of feline monster that was thrown at her - everyone knew the feline type were the fastest. So, she had confidence that she could outrun her mother, who was at least eighteen years older than herself - the exact number, she didn't know.

Suddenly, she heard her name shouted again, but this time it sounded fearful, almost frantic, and it made her look back in confusion, wondering if her Mom was alright. It didn't look like anything was wrong, she was still running towards her, but she seemed to be trying to speed up, and really trying to tell her something. But what?

Then, the world disappeared from under her, and she felt a falling sensation. _No!_ Her thoughts screamed, and she let out a scream to accompany them, twisting around to grip the edge of the cliff. She had forgotten there was a cliff near Boot Hill. _Of course there's a cliff, you **idiot**, you have to get to this island by train or sandcraft! _She mentally cursed herself out, searching for footholds in the rock, to keep herself up. Her hands couldn't hold her forever, after all, and they were already beginning to slip. "HELP! Mom, help me!" she cried, feeling panic beginning to set in. Finally, her foot managed to fine a rock jutting out slightly, and she stepped on it, lifting herself up a bit, to get a better grip on the ground above. Her eyes drifted downwards, and she let out a scared squeak, seeing the churning sand below her.

Soon, she heard footsteps approaching, and when she looked up, she saw her mother's worried face just above her. "Don't worry, Erica, you'll be alright! I won't let you fall!" Georgia said, fear evident in her voice, and Erica nodded her head, trying to keep herself from crying. _Oh guardians, please don't let me die like this._

* * *

Ran wasn't in the best of moods. No, oh no. In fact, far from it, really. She was beginning to think about actually killing the child, but every time she thought about it, that strange little voice in the back of her mind said 'don't do it!', and she just had to go and listen to it. With a slight twitch, she turned her head to look in the direction the human child was, and nearly growled, at seeing him kneeling on the ground, playing with a lady bug. It was a _bug_, for crying out loud! It couldn't be more important than his life, or getting home, now could it?

"Child! Get over here!" she snapped, and he jerked up, looking at her fearfully, before jumping up and running over, looking up at her with big, curiously fearful emerald eyes. She took a long, deep breath, and reached up, rubbing her right temple. "Edan. Now, remind me. Why are you with me?"

"To hewp me get home."

"Yes. And, why is that?"

"Becauthe, I can't do it by mysewf."

"Yes. And, is it smart to get on Miss Ran's nerves?"

"No."

"Then, why are you?"

"Why am I what?"

Ran let out a growl, and smacked her forehead. It was useless. The child was a dense little brat, and he didn't pay any attention to anything she was saying. It was beginning to wear her thin, and she wondered how her mother had done it, if she was half as bad. Gave her a new respect for mothers.

"Why are you getting on Miss Ran's nerves?!"

"I don' know.. why am I getting on youw newveth?" he asked, tilting his head rather cutely to the side. Ran really, really hated to admit that he looked cute when he did it, but he did. Maybe it was the fact that he was only four. That was probably it. Even human children could look cute at four. Of course, she wasn't going to admit it, but dream-demons were humanoid in shape, and really did look more like humans than anything else.

She opened her mouth to reply, then stopped, and thought about it. Why was he getting on her nerves, exactly? Oh yes. Because he was inconveniencing her. She was helping him, and all he did was slow her down, making everything much more difficult. "Because, I am helping you against my better judgement, and you are torturing me for it."

Edan was silent for a moment, before he pursed his lips, and frowned, looking like he was thinking really hard about something that just didn't make sense to him. He tilted his head to one side, then the other, and then he stopped frowning, shrugging at her. "I don' know what ju.. Ju... thothe wordth you thaid mean." he stated, blinking his large, pretty eyes at her.

She blinked back at him, and then snorted. The snort was followed by a snicker, and then a chuckle. Pretty soon, she was laughing, and covering her mouth to keep from letting it through. No! She couldn't laugh at him! It didn't make sense, and she hated it, she couldn't laugh at him. It was too human, and she was more dream demon than she was human. "Haha, ha.. Ha... oh, Edan... hahaha.." she snorted, snickered, and continued to laugh, trying to stop herself, but she just couldn't seem to do it. The more she laughed, the harder it got to stop, and she was beginning to scare the four year in front of her, who hadn't ever seen her in a genuinely good mood before.

The laughing fit lasted far too long, in Ran's opinion, but eventually she began to calm herself, and she took deep breaths, trying to completely stop the chuckles from coming, though the occasional snort or snicker would escape. Nodding slowly, she patted her chest, before looking down to the four year old, who was looking at her with a slightly nervous smile. Rolling her eyes with a smile, she reached down and ruffled his hair, before sighing. _Stupid human child, bringing out the human side of me. I hate that part,_ she thought to herself, before telling the boy, "Never mind. Okay, from now on, how about I carry you on my back, okay? That'll make getting you home go quicker."

A bright smile flashed across his face, and he nodded his head vigorously, stretching his arms up to her. "Yeah! Yeah, piggyback, wike Mommy and Daddy give me!" he exclaimed, and squealed happily as Ran picked him up, swinging him around, onto her back. "Yay!" he cheered, wrapping his arms tightly around her neck. "Go fatht!" he requested, and she smirked, nodding her head slightly.

"As you wish, child," she replied, before crouching down slightly, and then taking off as fast as she could go towards the nearest town - Boot Hill.

* * *

Georgia was scared. She was really scared, and she didn't know what to do. Her only daughter, her child was dangling over twenty feet from the sand below, and even if it wasn't that far down, the sand would kill her anyway. When one got sucked under, they never came back up, and even if they _did_, they would have to deal with the monsters, which were far, far larger than those on land. "Don't worry, Erica, you'll be alright! I won't let you fall!" she shouted to her daughter below, and she saw Erica nod her head, before clenching her eyes closed.

What could she do? She didn't know if she was still strong enough to pull Erica up. If she was still as strong as she was when she was eighteen, it was going to be an easy task to pull the fifteen year old up over the side. After all, she'd carried Anthony around, and he'd been quite a bit heavier than herself. _And_ she'd saved him from a similar situation to her daughter's, now. But it was less serious.

Biting her lip, she glanced back in the direction they'd come from. Anthony and Kevin were too far away to get there quickly enough. She had to help Erica herself, whether she had her old strength or not. Taking a deep breath, she braced herself, and then turned around again. "When I tell you to, Erica, grab my arm, alright?" she called, and saw her daughter nod again. She could see the tears trickling down the girl's face, and she felt a fresh wave of fear for her daughter's safety wash over her. She was going to save her, no matter what.

Bending down, she placing her hand on the edge of the cliff, and then reached down, grabbing her daughter's wrist. The main thing she was worried about, was losing her balance and causing them both to fall over the edge.But, that was better than just _letting_ Erica fall. So, with another deep breath, she said, "Now! Grab my arm!" It was practically a blur to her - Erica letting go and grabbing her arm with her other hand, pulling her daughter quickly up over the edge, and nearly falling over the edge herself, once she got her daughter up.

But she was safe. Erica was safe again, and Georgia couldn't stop herself from pulling her daughter into a tight hug, crying from the relief. She'd already lost her once, she didn't think she could handle losing her again. "Mom, I'm sorry... th-thank you.." she heard her daughter whisper, and she nodded slightly, petting the girl's long black hair gently, comfortingly, shushing her quietly. Right now, she wasn't going to concentrate on her own relief, she was going to concentrate on her daughter, and making sure the young girl was alright.

"Shh, Erica, it's okay.. I'm not mad at you. I'm the one who should be sorry... I guess I thought you were still eleven.. I haven't seen you for four years, and, I just.. need to get into the groove of taking care of a teenager, you know? I'm not as good at it as Mom and Dad were... your father's going to take a lot more work to get him to agree to it, though." she chuckled, leaning her cheek against her daughter's head, and she could feel the younger girl laugh lightly, though it was mixed in with a hiccuping sob.

"I-it's okay... y-y-you're right, I wa-was being a little.. childish." Erica muttered quietly, and Georgia nodded her head lightly, petting her daughter's hair again. She didn't care that much at the moment. Her daughter was alive, and that was all that mattered right then. Maybe she would even let her have her first kiss with Kevin. Or was it her first kiss? Well, either way, it was the first kiss with _Kevin_, and everyone knew the two had loved each other practically since the black haired girl was born.

"It's alright, you're fifteen.. you have the right to be a little childish at times. I was still childish at eighteen, just ask your father. Of course, he was still childish at twenty. It's only natural you're still a little childish." Georgia laughed a bit, and squeezed her daughter, before pulling back a bit, tilting Erica's face up to look into her own. "Okay, now... you feeling good enough to go back to our search?" she inquired.

The violet eyed maiden's eyes averted for a moment, then raised again to look into her mother's eyes, and then she nodded, before pulling away, wiping at her face again. Georgia smiled happily, and nodded her head once, before climbing to her feet, brushing off her skirt, then extending a hand to the younger Bernadette. The teen smiled shakily, and took the hand, pulling herself up with it, quietly thanking her mother, brushing her cloak off as she did so.

Then, the two women turned, and began walking back towards the two men they'd left, determined to find the four year old they had originally set out to find.

* * *

**A/N: **Okay... I was going to write more, but since it's twelve thirty on the nose, I think I'm going to stop there for now. Aren't you glad I didn't leave her dangling there until the next chapter, though?


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